[V11C21] Invitation of the Lorelei

The Key of Knowledge Sophocles possessed a catalog of all books contained in the Forbidden Archives, including which book is stored on which shelf.

If given details like the written date or author name, Sophocles could provide the corresponding book title. However, this only applied to the publicly accessible books.

Due to the restrictions on the Forbidden Archives, Sophocles could only convey search results of forbidden tomes to the contractor, and only via the catalog.

In other words, Cyril would be unable to search for any book until he was able to read the catalog.

(What a fool. I told him to start with the First Forbidden Section and continue from there… How stubborn can he be?)

“Sophocles, one more time.”

Cyril was still on his knees, moving his right hand on the floor as he attempted to memorize the overwhelming torrent of information going through his head.

At this point, Sophocles had already lost track of many times he had performed the catalog disclosure.

To an ordinary person like Cyril, undergoing the catalog disclosure was a painful torment akin to being crushed under the weight of countless letters forcibly implanted into your head. This was evident by the agony on Cyril’s face.

“One more time.”

The tip of his index finger had been blackened by the dirt of the floor. Its skin was starting to peel.

Nevertheless, Cyril refused to stop. He continued writing invisible words while murmuring the catalog to himself.

＊　＊　＊

——”How foolish can you be?”

——”Keheeheehee! Keheehee! Keheekehee!”

——”This must be the most unsightly inheritor I have ever seen.”

The voices of the sealed monsters spread across the bookshelves, overlapping into a chorus of laughter and morphing the malice of the Forbidden Archives into something even darker.

The shadows of the bookshelves began to flicker and swell, completely ignoring the swaying of the lanterns. The sight was supernatural and eerie.

The only light sources in the room were the lanterns held by Cyril and Raul, yet the shadows kept multiplying.

Ten shadows emerged from a single bookshelf, before overlapping to form an even denser shadow. Slowly but surely, the darkness began to encroach the light.

——”Now, show me how your heart crumbles.”

Cyril remained knelt on the floor, diligently moving his finger even as the shadows crept closer and closer.

The white and golden weasels moved to protect Cyril, hissing at the darkness.

——”What’s that?”

——”A spirit. The inexperienced one is a spirit caster.”

——”Spirit? Hah, such a fragile creature. I could gulp it down in one go.”

——”Feed me, feed me, I’ve devoured a hundred spirits in my lifetime.”

The fur coats of the weasels stood on end.

“Pretty cheeky for a half-dead monster with no body…” Pikeh mumbled.

“You want to eat Pikeh? That’s not very nice,” Thule followed.

Meanwhile, Raul took a stand in front of the two angry weasels.

He put his right hand forward, which held one of the rose seeds from his pocket. Following a short chant, the seed bloomed with incredible speed to form a wall of thorns between Cyril and the shadows.

“My friend is trying really hard right now. Don’t get in his way,” Raul said with a face devoid of emotion.

The creeping shadows came to an abrupt stop as the monsters expressed their joy.

——”It’s the Thorn Witch.”

——”O Thorn Witch, call my name!”

——”I shall obey any command from the ruthless one.”

——”Step on me, Thorn Witch-sama!”

Upon hearing those last words, Raul’s emotionless mask crumbled apart. He covered his face with one hand and sighed in exasperation.

“Seriously, why does this always happen…? What did my ancestors do to these monsters…?”

Apparently, the monsters only got more excited when Raul revealed his ruthless side. Before he knew it, the room was wrapped in an unusual fervor.

——”Thorn Witch! O wicked and cruel Thorn Witch!”

——”Trample me and turn me into your chair!”

——”The tragedy you bring is more beautiful than any story!”

——”Feed us with your leftovers from your Rose Fortress!”

“Oh come on…”

Raul let out another pathetic sigh, as Cyril, still running his fingers across the floor, raised his head with vigor.

“Shut up! How am I supposed to memorize the catalog with this much noise!?”

His furious shout echoed through the Forbidden Archives. As a side note, his voice was considered to be the loudest in all of Serendia Academy, and a complete waste of his talent for singing (according to Elliott).

The whispers of the monster came to an abrupt stop as Cyril glowered at the bookshelves with slightly bloodshot blue eyes.

“I don’t care if you were originally monsters or whatever! All of you are currently books, and books wait patiently to be read! Just sit quietly and I’ll read all of you later!”

Cyril let out an angry sigh, then returned to memorizing the catalogs.

The silent monsters began to whisper again, but devoid of their earlier malice.

They seemed to be lowering their voices out of consideration for Cyril, but they failed to hide the curiosity in their tones.

——”That woman.”

——”He is a descendant of that woman.”

——”I can see the resemblance. Kehee, so similar. Kehee-kehee.”

——”That woman has returned.”

——”She came back for us.”

——”We will be read.”

——”Our stories will be read again? How delightful.”

＊　＊　＊

In the end, Cyril never managed to memorize the catalogs perfectly.

He simply could not match Claudia’s talent for memorization. For him, remembering one thing often led to forgetting another.

But even if his memory was not perfect, the act of learning would never be in vain. As long as Cyril read something once, he could recall his forgotten memories by reading it again.

(…I’m making progress, little by little.)

The first time Cyril accessed the massive catalog contained within the Key of Knowledge, he only managed to read a tiny fraction of it. But after each additional try, he managed to read more and more.

Learning unknown information had a far heavier burden on the mind than remembering information that was already known. Thus, the more Cyril learned, the easier it became to read the catalog.

After repeating the attempts over a hundred times, Cyril paused his hand, closed his eyes, and went over everything he memorized. The catalog in his head was still imperfect, full of holes.

Still, he was keeping track of the books most likely to be related to Gluttonous Zoe in terms of written date and location.

After internally organizing the list in his head, Cyril gave another order to the ring on his right middle finger.

“Sophocles, show me the catalog.”

“Very well.”

The names of the forbidden tomes flowed into his head again.

This caused a massive headache, but it wasn’t unbearable. Cyril could read it now.

(I must not allow myself to lose track of the goal. Complete memorization of the catalogs is not crucial to our current objective.)

Of course, Cyril intended to memorize the catalogs eventually, but for now, the priority was to search the catalog for any books related to Gluttonous Zoe.

After stumbling a bit, Cyril regained his balance, straightened his back, and turned to Raul.

“…I apologize for the delay, Mage Count Roseberg. Allow me to guide you through the Forbidden Archives.”

Raul would usually respond with, “Just call me Raul,” but he sensed that Cyril’s formal tone was due to his responsibility as a Library Society official.

Thus, Raul cleared his throat and responded in a similar tone.

“Ahem, I request your guidance, Cyril Ashley-dono from the Lineage of Knowledge.”

Hearing that naturally caused Cyril to lift the corners of his mouth slightly.

Cyril understood that he lacked experience, but he held pride in being part of the Lineage of Knowledge. He was someone who never stopped learning, and he intended to work diligently to live up to the title.

“Alright then, which books are we looking into today?” Raul asked.

“The legends about Gluttonous Zoe are mainly from Zagal, in southern Ridill,” Cyril answered.

Before visiting the Forbidden Archives, Cyril had researched Gluttonous Zoe to the best of his abilities. He knew that Zagal was currently a part of Ridill, but it had once been the territory of the Falfolia Kingdom.

Or more specifically, Zagal had belonged to the Fal Kingdom before it unified with the Folia Kingdom to become the current Falfolia.

“I intend to investigate any books mentioning Gluttonous Zoe from around Year 600 of the Old Era, particularly those related to the Fal Kingdom. The relevant books in the Forbidden Archives include… Haper-Agni, Seven Spirit Scriptures, Mazlowa’s Journal, and Fairy Specimens… The time frame is a bit off, but it’s also worth checking out Spirit Jungle Records and Moon Wolf of Klara Stella regarding ancient artifacts in general.”

“Hmm, very well. In that case, let’s move onto the Second Forbidden Section…”

Right as Sophocles was about to guide them to the books in question, the hushed monsters raised their voices in unison.

——”Read me, read me!”

——”Read me, read me!”

——”Read me, read me!”

——”Read me, read me!”

The shouts echoing from the bookshelves were painfully loud. Pikeh and Thule spiked up their tails in surprise.

Cyril turned toward the bookshelves and shouted, “W-What is going on!?”

“Oh dear, look what you’ve done now. This is why men with harem desires will get stabbed someday.”

“What are you even talking about!?” Cyril shouted.

Meanwhile, Raul explained while covering one ear with his hand.

“The monsters of the Forbidden Archives are attention-seekers. It seems they’ve taken a liking to you, Cyril.”

This was supported by the monsters making loud demands such as “Read me first!” and “No me!”

Cyril faced the bookshelves and raised his voice.

“I’m looking for books related to the ancient artifact Gluttonous Zoe! Whoever fits the description, speak up! Sorry to everyone else, but you will have to wait your turn!”

“A library guide who asks the books to come to him? This has to be a first…”

Sophocles let out an exasperated mutter.

The monsters fell silent, before starting in another wave of whispers.

——”They called me ‘gluttonous’ when I was alive. A monster of gluttony.”

——”Zoe, Zoe, I’ve heard that name. They came to investigate it eight years ago.”

——”Kehee, if it’s an artifact you seek, wouldn’t it be in the Book of Barloc?”

——”I remember there being an artifact which shot down the harpies of Neckbreaker Valley.”

——”No, no, that was the Star Weaver.”

As suspected, there did not seem to be any promising books in the First Forbidden Section.

Cyril raised his right hand to review the catalog again, but he was distracted by music echoing from the door in the back of the room.

――”Come. Come. Come to me.”

(…Music? No, this is a voice.)

Cyril had thought the voice sounded like music because it resembled the overlapping tones when multiple keys on a piano were played at the same time.

The word “come” had been overlapped three times or more, yet they all seemed to come from the same voice.

――”The Lorelei of Heilbach.”

――”Madam Lorelei has started singing?”

“…The Lorelei of Heilbach?”

Cyril muttered the name, retracing his memories.

‘The Lorelei of Heilbach’ was a short story about a monster known as the Lorelei in the Empire. It did not seem to have any relevance to Gluttonous Zoe, so Cyril had prioritized other books.

However, Sophocles began shouting in surprise from Cyril’s hand.

“That is a book from the Deepest Forbidden Section… Could it be that this commotion caused her to wake from her slumber…!?”

Like Sophocles said, this voice was coming from the door rather than within the First Forbidden Section. Yet for some reason, it resonated clearly in this room. Cyril only now realized how strange this was.

“Is that a pretty dangerous monster or something?” Raul asked, lowering his voice.

“All the monsters in the Deepest Forbidden Section are dangerous… Moreover, the very fact that a monster from the deepest layer can speak to us in the first floor is already abnormal!”

Cyril did not quite understand, but this situation seemed to be perplexing to both Raul and Sophocles, who had much more experience with the Forbidden Archives.

Meanwhile, the song-like voice came from beyond the door again.

――”I will teach you. I will sing for you. The tale of the Gluttonous Boy King who violated the taboo…”

Gluttonous? The mention of that term prompted Cyril to lift his face with a start.

“Gluttonous Boy King…? Does that have something to do with Gluttonous Zoe…?”

“What? Did you say something just now? I didn’t catch it.”

Sophocles was unable to comprehend Cyril’s question. This indicated that it was touching on the contents of a forbidden tome.

Cyril straightened his posture and addressed the voice beyond the door.

“If you know something, please tell me, Madam Lorelei.”

――”Come, come, come to my side. Come, come, come to me now.”

Cyril looked at Raul, Thule, Pikeh, and then Sophocles in turn. All of them were waiting for Cyril’s decision. He was their guide.

Should they begin their investigation from the beginning, or should he lend an ear to this monster from the deep?

(…I must not be swayed by the words of monsters. However, I must not cover my ears to them either. The words of monsters are also a form of knowledge from the past.)

Cyril swallowed his saliva and voiced his answer.

“Let’s go to the Deepest Forbidden Section.”


Beyond the door and past the darkness lied the deepest recesses of the Forbidden Archives. There, a monster was singing with her non-existent hands outstretched.

――”Now, come and kneel at my feet, child of man. I will give you a taste of the forbidden.”

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