Your Majesty, Dinner Is Ready. - Chapter 61

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 61: D-Rank Dungeon – Sin Library (4)
– Caw-caw-caw!
The blind crow’s specialty was reconnaissance and search.
Thanks to it, I was able to reunite with the siblings quickly after we’d been separated.
“Kar!”
A relatively safe space, surrounded by bookshelves.
The moment I stepped inside, Merlin came rushing toward me and threw her arms around me.
She buried her face in my chest, her shoulders trembling.
“Were you worried?”
“…….”
“It’s all right now.”
As I patted her shoulder, Abel approached and let out a sigh of relief.
“…Sponsor, my heart nearly stopped.”
“From now on, don’t worry. I won’t die in the field unless it’s an A-Rank Dungeon or higher.”
“I know full well that you’re not an Explorer weak enough to collapse in a D-Rank Dungeon. But no matter what, you fight far too recklessly. Please stop doing that from now on.”
Am I really being scolded by a twelve-year-old right now?
Since it didn’t feel bad at all, I thought this sort of unusual experience was worth having at least once in life.
Though with the children so sad, I’d have to exercise restraint going forward.
I had no intention of abandoning all-out combat entirely, but….
“I’m glad you’re safe.”
The bald-headed Explorer who’d fled with the siblings and even protected them chuckled and handed me a Secret Art Tome.
《Tier 3 Secret Art Tome – Bewildered Tongue》
《You can stretch your tongue whip-like and elongated in exchange for a slight decrease in taste.》
“This Secret Art doesn’t have defects serious enough to be unusable. It’s quite practical, actually.”
“I see. Thank you.”
While it had the drawback of looking repulsive in use, it also carried the advantage of letting you temporarily experience being a Frog-man, a rare species.
“We’ll rest here a bit longer before moving on. I swear I’ll make it out alive and tell Valentin all about your exploits!”
“Yes, thank you for looking after the children.”
I bowed politely and moved on with the siblings.
Merlin, still burying her face in my chest, walked slowly and murmured quietly.
“…If you do that again, you’ll die.”
“I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”
Truth be told, I couldn’t promise that.
If a similar situation arose, I’d do exactly the same thing again.
But there was no need to say such things in front of a crying child, so I simply stroked her back.
– Caw-caw-caw!
The blind crow, returning from its reconnaissance, called out loudly from a distance.
It was a signal that it had found the terrain I’d asked it to search for.
Before long, the creature returned to my eye socket and displayed text before me.
《I found terrain that doesn’t look like a library at all, just as you said.》
《The way: Go straight → then turn up ↑.》
Thanks to such clear and intuitive guidance, I navigated easily.
《It’s that way up there! ↑》
At the endpoint of the Eye That Pierces Truth’s guidance.
There was a forest indoors.
A dense forest of bookshelves, brown at the bottom and green at the top, had grown thickly.
The detailed color palette of the floor—grass and flowers blooming luxuriantly—was striking.
“Children, observe carefully.”
I spoke as I entered the forest with them.
“There will be exactly one empty space on one shelf. The second Hidden Piece is to insert the book you’ve prepared there as a ‘donation.'”
“You just have to put it in?”
“That’s right. Nothing to it, is there?”
The Bartimeer expedition would have donated about two books by now.
The speed difference wasn’t yet enough to overturn the outcome.
After all, I had the blind crow, specialized in search.
I was greedy enough to monopolize both Hidden Pieces and secure an overwhelming victory, so I had no intention of moving slowly.
– Leave the library…!
As I examined the forest, an armored knight made of books rose from the ground.
《Library Guardian (Level 7)》
《You won’t need detailed explanations for this one either. Run!》
That’s what I decided to do.
“This way!”
The moment our eyes met with the Magical Book Monster’s, I bolted forward with the children at my heels.
It was powerful enough, but its body was heavy and lumbering—slow enough that even a frail Socialite and young children could easily outpace it.
– The Library….
“Yes, we’re leaving right away!”
– Leave…?
“We’re leaving, I said!”
Thump-thump-thump.
Even though I’d promised to do as it asked, it kept chasing us.
I naturally veered the siblings off to either side, and the Library Guardian pursued only me with relentless focus.
The reason was obvious.
– Arsonist…!
My pyrotechnics had been far too flashy—that was the source of all this trouble.
The Book Knight was remarkably persistent; if I didn’t shake it completely, it would follow me even after I left the forest.
Time to change tactics.
Crack-crack-crack!
I converted my right hand into lightning and electrocuted the Library Guardian.
Since its body was made of books, it had virtually no effect.
– The arsonist must be punished!
The Book Knight shook its body to scatter the black current, then unleashed a blade of sword energy.
Rip!
My left shoulder was sliced clean off.
At this point, it was barely a scrape.
With my intact right hand, I conjured a sphere of lightning and swallowed it whole in a single gulp.
Crackle-crackle-crackle!
As the tingling pain descended down my throat, my entire body began to convulse violently.
My flesh was slowly transforming into black lightning.
《Through [Sin: Gluttony], your flesh has taken on the properties of the corrupted water you have just consumed—a nature identical to the thunder of that exalted one!》
The Secret Art [Sin: Gluttony]—obtainable as a Hidden Piece for unsealing the Nameless Demon King.
My body’s nature could be altered to match whatever substance or power I consumed.
Right now, my form was composed of the exact same essence as that exalted one’s black lightning.
Naturally, it was agonizing, but I wouldn’t die from it.
I had the Fragment of the Colossal, which protected me from status-inflicted damage that affected the body.
《Please, spare yourself some of this torment!》
I’d prefer to fight in less pain if I could, but I had no choice.
At the weakest Class—Socialite—I’d be nothing but a living puppet for evil worship if I fought straightforwardly.
Crackle-crackle-crackle!
The lightning settled deep within my body.
My entire frame rippled and trembled violently.
Blood, muscle, nerve, organ, bone.
Vast swaths of my tissue were transforming into lightning.
“Hah… hah….”
[Sin: Gluttony] offered no pain relief, so agony at the brink of consciousness surged through me.
Lightning flickered and leaked from every opening in my body.
My limbs felt as though they were being torn to shreds, but I pushed through all of it.
After all, this was just a fleeting guest passing through my form.
“Hold still.”
Grinding my teeth to keep consciousness, I suppressed the lightning raging within me—wild as that exalted one’s own nature—using [Dark Brain Blooming].
– I don’t know what you’re doing, but hurry up and disappear!
The Library Guardian trudged forward and swung its blade.
The book-forged greatsword passed clean through my neck and out the other side.
My body had already become complete lightning, so the impact was greatly diminished.
Crackle-crackle-crackle-crackle.
My form rapidly restored itself.
It was dreadfully painful, but remembering the time I’d been mauled by that massive Magical Book Monster made it slightly more bearable.
– Arsonist!
Bewildered that it had severed my neck and I hadn’t died, the Library Guardian began thrashing its blade wildly.
Surrounded by a sensation no ordinary person could ever feel—the body sliced into fragments—I turned the tables, and lightning coursed through the Guardian in return.
– This much, at least…!
The creature didn’t yield. Its massive hand clamped down on my small, precious head.
Just as those colossal fingers tightened to crush my skull—
Crack-crack-crack!
Lightning descended upon the Library Guardian’s body with a force incomparably greater than before, incinerating it wholesale.
—…!
Until now, even electrocution had left the Library Guardian moving freely. This time, its frame shuddered.
《Not quite a congratulation: The growth-type Secret Art, Dark Brain Blooming, has evolved to Rank 3.》
Each time I controlled the ferocious current, Dark Brain Blooming grew—and its Rank 3 effect proved potent.
The lightning’s power surged still further.
Crackle!
Sue’je had sent down waves of relief and jubilation.
She seemed deeply anxious that not a single scar mar the half-elf’s sole advantage—her face.
“Fear not, Your Highness. Even if my entire body were hewn to pieces, I would preserve my face. Besides, continuing Explorer duties as merely a head doesn’t seem a wholly unpleasant experience, does it?”
My whole body ached from the electric cooking I’d endured, but I gritted my teeth and bolted forward anyway.
There was no time to rest and catch my breath.
“Forgive me.”
With my entire body transformed into lightning, I drove through the armor and burrowed into the Library Guardian’s flesh.
—You cursed—!
“Rest for a moment, won’t you.”
Whoosh!
I unleashed flame from my left hand.
Fire roared up from the book knight’s interior.
As a Level 7 magical beast, this wouldn’t kill it—but it would buy me time enough.
—Screeeech!
While the Library Guardian convulsed, I escaped and fled hard, reaching into subspace for a vial of blood.
《What’s this? You’ve kept all this while the blood you received from the Earth Elf’s Tomb?》
I was the pragmatic sort who stored away even useless scraps, so I’d held onto it faithfully all along.
I uncorked the vial and drank a mouthful of the fresh, nature-scented blood.
《Sin: Gluttony has activated, and your bodily form has reverted to its original state!》
Eating one’s own blood or flesh reversed whatever transformations had occurred.
Which meant not throwing it away had been the smart move—though calling myself a calculating, meticulous half-elf strategist sounded rather better than admitting I simply hoard everything, so let’s go with that version.
“Kar!”
I ran toward the voice and spotted Merlin’s tail shoot upright—she’d been crouched low, inspecting the ground.
“It’s here, at the base of this tree!”
Beneath the roots of an enormous oak lay a hollow space—exactly the size of one book.
“Well done.”
I patted Merlin’s back as she bounced with pride, then drew from subspace a book brilliant red as blood.
The first volume of a novel series Odilon adored—one brimming with destruction and ruin.
A work hardly suited to children’s sensibilities; I slotted it hastily into the hollow.
Screee-scree-screech.
A strange sound echoed, and a rift opened in the air—a single sheet of paper fluttered down.
The paper was a murky green.
[Sharing Points: ■□□]
—Once you donate two more books, we’ll grant you a special privilege!
“Did it work?”
“It did.”
Two more donations and the Hidden Piece would activate.
“Come on, let’s donate all the remaining books at once.”
***
Magical Book Monsters.
Creatures born when demons of the old age crafted them from books themselves.
They appeared everywhere in the Sin Library, without exception.
When morning came they’d sleep—which made the surest defense simple: don’t move at night.
—Kyree-kyree-kyee!
But we were racing now, locked in an exploration competition.
That meant we had no leisure to wait for dawn.
“…Kar, they’ve appeared again and again and again!”
Two hours into our second Hidden Piece quest.
We’d already successfully donated two more books.
The journey hadn’t been easy.
– Snarl!
– Screech!
A horde of small Magical Book Monsters kept pouring in without respite.
I’d lost count of how many times we’d faced them now.
“These infernal books!”
Merlin gritted his teeth and swung the Primordial Breath wildly, slicing through every last small Magical Book Monster.
Was it because we’d been fighting them nonstop for the past two hours?
Now he was cutting them down in a single stroke each.
Real combat was indeed the best training.
– Shriek!
“I think we’ve arrived!”
A new terrain emerged ahead.
The ground was densely packed with pristine white bookshelves.
A landscape meticulously detailed with snow-covered plains and snowy mountains.
This time it was a winter wasteland.
– Crunch….
The Magical Book Monsters that had been pursuing us with relentless tenacity due to the cold grew sluggish in their movements.
That’s what I was waiting for…!
Whoosh!
Flames engulfed the bodies of the paper-made monsters all at once.
But it wasn’t total annihilation.
A small elite corps of small Magical Book Monsters, unaffected by the cold, began targeting us.
“We do the same thing again this time, yes?”
I blocked an attack aimed at Merlin’s shoulder with my back as I replied.
“Right. Only one left now, so let’s move fast.”
“Patron, we’ll focus on searching while you handle the Magical Book Monsters.”
“Take it.”
I handed over the last remaining lurid, blood-soaked scandal novel—pure Odilon’s taste.
“Let’s go, Abel!”
Merlin took the book and rushed forward in a low crouch alongside his brother.
I watched their retreating forms for a moment, then intercepted the incoming Magical Book Monsters with Four · Flame · Fire.
“You can do this.”
An essential quality for any expedition leader.
Trusting your comrades and giving orders.
“You’ve got this.”
Today, the siblings would be reborn as true Explorers in their own right.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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