Marcos, whom I met by chance, let me into the library.
“Well then,” Marcos said, and went off to finish his own business. As I turned a bookshelf, I could no longer hear the sound of him slithering with his snake tail.
“I am the administrator here, my name is Carter.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Arisugawa. If you have time, there’s something I’m looking for.”
Carter, an old Satyr, smiled kindly and nodded.
“I’ll get straight to the point. Does this ring a bell?”
I showed him the letter I had stolen from the Dark Elf. He frowned as he took the tattered paper.
“Hmm, what could this possibly mean? Is it a part of a poem?”
I wondered if it couldn’t be found even in the largest library in this world. Then, Carter’s eyes widened as if he had a realization. His thin, withered finger trembled slightly.
“Th-this, this is… By any chance, why do you have it?”
He slowly raised his gaze and looked at me. Is this it? But he seemed to have misunderstood something and began to back away.
“Ah, no, wait, please don’t report me. I just want to know what this means.”
“We obtained it from the Dark Elves. We need to solve the riddle before they do.”
Sharin added, and Carter finally stopped.
“You stole it from the Dark Elves? Why? Who are you people?”
“We are on a journey, and along the way, we discovered a plot by the Dark Elves. We stole the letter and came from another world.”
The moment he heard the words “another world,” the wrinkles on his brow deepened significantly. I spoke of how this world was divided and how I had been pursuing the Dark Elves ever since.
“…I understand. It’s not suitable here, so please come this way.”
Carter led us to a separate room. We were shown into a private room furnished with luxurious sofas. The administrator closed the door and sat down on a soft sofa. As we also sat down, our gazes met.
“Are you acting under the instructions of the Light Elves?”
“No, we are not. That’s why we can’t be too public about it. If we are apprehended, we can’t continue our journey.”
He murmured, “I see,” with a sigh. It was natural for him to wonder why we, who had no connection to them, were chasing the Dark Elves. Sometimes I myself lose track of why.
“I see. A divided world. It really existed. I always thought it was just a fairy tale. I’ve been the administrator of this library for generations, but when I was young, I hated this job. My father and grandfather told me many stories, but I always thought they were just made up. After all, I considered books to be nothing more than figments of imagination.”
“Then you must have had quite a long journey. If another world exists, then the existence of humans is also not a lie… you are…”
I didn’t answer his question. And Carter didn’t press further.
“Excuse me, let’s get back to the topic. Regarding this text, there is a place called Heaven in this world, and there is a book written by ancient people that describes how to get there. And a part of that book was stolen by someone.”
According to the story, the page was stolen more than a year ago, and it took time to discover it, so it is unknown when it was actually stolen. The book describing the path to Heaven is kept under strict guard deep within the library, and generally, no one can approach it.
“I don’t know for sure, but it is said that the culprit is a Dark Elf.”
“They are trying to go to that Heaven, aren’t they? They expect to gain power enough to rule the world if they go.”
Carter nodded slowly at my words. Then, what kind of place is that Heaven? Since Hell exists, Heaven must also exist. Wait, then why were they so desperately trying to open the Gate to Hell? Don’t they want to go to Heaven?
“Um, what kind of place is that? Is it like the opposite of Hell?”
“No, strictly speaking, it seems to be the closest place to Heaven. Long ago, in an era when civilization was not as developed as it is now, the Magician’s Guild held great power. And outstanding magicians gathered from all over the world to control it. But at one point, a ruler who feared that power ordered them to be driven out.”
The story continues, the ruler relentlessly pursued the talented magicians. Eventually, with nowhere left to run, they reached the ends of the earth and built a nation there. And the legacy left behind there is the path to Heaven.
“That’s all I heard. And the method of getting there seems to be only from the scant text written there.”
Although I gained various information, I couldn’t find any clues regarding the method of getting there.
