[V15C5] A Very Long Ten Minutes

The Forbidden Archives of the Ascard Grand Library consisted of six main rooms: the First through Fifth Forbidden Sections, and the Deepest Forbidden Section.

Monica, Cyril, and Raul were currently in the First Forbidden Section, which was also the largest of the rooms. If they turned right, they would reach the Second Forbidden Section, and if they turned left, they would reach the Third Forbidden Section.

Continuing forward would lead to a spiral staircase descending further underground, with doors to the Fourth, Fifth, and Deepest Forbidden Sections.

Cyril did his best to calm the books demanding to be read, then turned to Monica and Raul again.

“We should inspect the most important and complicated seals first. Those are in the Deepest Forbidden Section, so we can work backwards from there.”

The mention of the Deepest Forbidden Section made Monica grow tense. She had only ever set foot in the First, Second, and Third Sections.

Apparently, the monsters sealed in the Fourth Section and below were far more dangerous than the others. And Cyril intended to start the cleaning and inspection at the Deepest Section, the most dangerous of them all.

Meanwhile, Raul was playing around by spinning the broom in his hand. He continued spinning while replying to Cyril.

“If we’re headed to the Deepest Section… does that mean you’re going to do that again?”

“Yes, I will. I’ve brought the one from last time.”

Cyril replied with an expression of determination, as Sophocles flashed a few times on his hand.

“I see you are still as dutiful as ever…”

What in the world did they mean by ‘that’? Raul and Sophocles seemed to understand, but Monica did not know if it was okay to ask.

As she fidgeted awkwardly, Cyril quickly gathered all the cleaning tools and opened the next door.

“Now then, let us head to the Deepest Section!”

Right as Cyril said that, the particles of light that had been floating around the First Forbidden Section started drifting through the door behind him.

Cyril was carrying a lantern, but the faint glow allowed them to barely make out the path ahead of them even without other sources of light.

Regardless, Cyril raised his lantern and turned to warn Monica.

“We’ll be going down a staircase. Watch your step.”

“R-Right!”

Monica knew how clumsy she was, and it would be disastrous if she tumbled down a staircase in this darkness. She concentrated on the steps and carefully began her descent.

The spiral staircase was not particularly wide, so they moved in a single file line with Cyril in the lead, followed by Monica, then Raul.

Their descent quickly led them to the door of the Fourth Forbidden Section, then the door to the Fifth a short distance later. They passed by both since their destination was the Deepest Section.

(…Huh?)

As they descended the spiral staircase, Monica frowned with a strange feeling of unease.

Monica possessed a strong sense of spatial awareness, so she rarely ever got lost. It was easy for her to keep track of her location, even inside complicated buildings.

Which was why she noticed the oddity about the structure of Forbidden Archives.

(The layout makes no sense…?)

Monica did not know much about architecture, but she understood that buildings displayed a certain kind of beauty in their design. The larger the building, the more it relied on precise calculations.

And indeed, the above ground floors of the Ascard Grand Library were meticulously constructed from a series of beautiful equations.

(But the Forbidden Archives are different… Ever since we descended the spiral staircase, the numbers don’t add up.)

It was difficult for most people to tell the direction and distance traveled when going down a spiral staircase. This was why Cyril, Raul, and the past visitors never noticed the distortion of space occurring here.

In the first place, they should be deep underground after descending the staircase for so long. But did the technology to support such deep buildings even exist at the time of the Ascard Grand Library’s construction?

(This spiral staircase is probably enchanted with some sort of magic…)

Monica had seen distorted space before. Nero was the prime example.

He once devoured an entire boar in dragon form, then transformed into a cat. So where did the boar in his belly disappear to?

When Monica asked him about this, he simply replied, “Dunno.” Her theory was that dragons possess a power similar to magic capable of distorting space.

However, spatial distortion was said to be impossible to replicate with modern magecraft.

In other words, the Forbidden Archives contained magical technology from the Old Era. It was essentially an ancient artifact in its own right.

To Monica, this warped space lacked the mathematical beauty she found in architecture. It felt disgusting to her.

But what if she could understand the underlying magical formulas behind it? Perhaps she would find beauty in it then.

As she absentmindedly entertained such thoughts, she heard a faint song from a floor deeper down. The singer sounded like a young woman.

“…W-What is that?” Monica asked, confused.

“It’s the Lorelei,” Cyril replied, placing a hand on the door to the Deepest Forbidden Section. “Maybe she’s upset because I was late submitting my impressions from the last visit.”

“…? Last visit? Impressions?”

His answer only left Monica even more confused.

Meanwhile, Cyril used Sophocles to draw a magical formula with his fingertip. Once he confirmed that the light had been absorbed by the iron doors, he pushed them open.

The deepest level of the Forbidden Archives was just a small circular room, not any larger than the others.

There was a reading stand at the center, surrounded by six glass cases arranged in a circle. The song was coming from one of those cases.

—— “You’re late.”

The voice of a young woman started sulking like a child. She seemed to be the monster sealed in one of the forbidden tomes.

But what did she mean by “late”? Monica peeked out her head from behind Cyril to observe the glass cases.

Cyril responded in a somewhat troubled tone.

“Be that as it may, I am not often given the opportunity to visit the Deepest Section.”

—— “You’re late.”

“But I am…”

—— “So. Very. Late.”

“…Today, we have come to inspect the seal and do some cleaning. I’ll read you my impressions after that.”

Monica still had no clue what they were talking about, but she felt awkward interrupting. She was left fidgeting uncomfortably until Raul whispered in her ear.

“Cyril and I once had to enter the Forbidden Archives several days in a row for research. After that, it became a sort of tradition for him to share his impressions on the Lorelei’s singing.”

“Cyril-sama is giving feedback…? On the song of a monster…?”

In contrast to Monica’s surprise, Raul continued with a hint of pride.

“You know, I once tried to mimic Cyril and give my own impressions. The Lorelei hasn’t spoken to me since!”

“O-Okay…”

During the whispered conversation between Monica and Raul, Cyril seems to have succeeded in convincing the Lorelei. The book within the glass case let out a melancholic sigh.

—— “I see, so you will be cleaning this room. In that case, your maid over there can handle the cleaning, while you give me your impressions.”

Everyone fell silent at the word “maid”. It went without saying who she was referring to.

Monica started quivering her lips, unable to speak. If she stayed silent and kept her head down, surely Cyril or Raul would clear up the misunderstanding.

But that wouldn’t do.

“Lorelei, this woman is—”

Just as Cyril began to explain, Monica sprang forward from behind him.

She clenched her staff and stood up straight, doing her best to look strong as she declared her name.

“I-I am the Silent Witch, Monica Everett, one of the Seven Sages! I’ve come to inspect the seal!”

—— “…You claim to be a Sage?”

Monica remembered back to when she visited the Forbidden Archives with Louis.

According to him: “These monsters ended up sealed in the Forbidden Archives because they were defeated by humans. So no matter what they say, you can dismiss it as the whining of a sore loser. If they get too annoying, just show them your power. They’ll usually shut up after that.”

Monica promptly got to work examining the magical formula of the sealing barrier, which was carved onto the base of the glass case.

When it came to reading magical formulas, there was no one better than Monica. She read through the whole thing in five seconds and reported her findings.

“The seal on this glass case is slightly degraded. Cyril-sama, I’ll need to inspect the seal on the room as well, so please allow me a little more time.”

“Got it,” Cyril replied. “In that case, I’ll get started on cleaning.”

“I’ll watch Monica to see how she repairs barriers!” Raul followed.

Cyril set the bucket on the floor and began cleaning, while Raul moved over to Monica’s side.

Monica and Louis were the most knowledgeable about sealing barriers, so originally, the task of seal inspection was to be assigned to one of them.

It was later that Raul asked to join for the sake of observing and learning about barriers. He never showed much interest in this kind of work before, but it seems he changed his mind recently.

Monica explained the procedure of inspecting a seal to Raul, then started repairing the degraded portions. She did this for each of the glass cases before turning her attention to the seal on the room as a whole.

Meanwhile, Cyril was exchanging words with Lorelei and Sophocles behind her.

—— “When will you be giving me your impressions? Hurry up already.”

“Good grief, what a bother. Just read a summary of your impressions as you wipe the floor.”

“While I am half-distracted by cleaning? Never. That would be an insult to the Lorelei.”

After that, a soft chuckle could be heard from the Lorelei’s glass case.

—— “…Yes, that is very true.”

Monica had been tracing the magic formula carved onto the door with her finger, but she found her finger twitching slightly.

(Ah…)

Hearing the Lorelei’s joyous reply had caused her to lose track of her calculations on barrier durability.

Raul, who was watching her work, blinked a few times in confusion.

“Monica? What’s wrong? Are you spacing out or something?”

“No! Not at all! I’ll finish it right away, I promise!”

Monica focused all of her concentration on the barrier, checking each section for deterioration and applying repairs where necessary.

The inspection and repair of a seal would normally take a fair amount of time. Perhaps several hours, or even a full day.

However, Monica could read magic formulas at an abnormal speed and required no chanting for repairs. She completed the seal inspection on the Deepest Forbidden Section in a matter of ten minutes.

Ten minutes. An astonishing feat to anyone who understood the challenges of barrier magic. But to Monica, it was just a very long ten minutes.

“Um, I’m done repairing the seal.”

Cyril was still polishing the floor and chatting with the Lorelei and Sophocles. He paused his mop and murmured, “That was fast,” when he heard Monica’s statement.

The black ring on his finger began blinking slowly. Judging by the stare Monica felt, Sophocles was probably staring at her.

“Girl, you had better not be pretending to be done with the inspection already.”

His voice was full of suspicion.

Cyril came over and touched the magical formula of the sealing barrier with his fingertip.

“How does it look, Sophocles?”

“Hmph, it’s only been ten minutes. There’s no way anyone could repair a seal in such a…”

Sophocles suddenly stopped blinking and fell silent.

Cyril called his name a few times, and eventually, the ring snapped back to reality and began blinking rapidly again.

“T-The repairs are complete…”

Meanwhile, Monica and Raul picked up their respective tools and joined Cyril in cleaning.

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