Chapter 44. Transfer

-It seems you won't need to endure its level.

Ram said to me as I stepped inside the library.

‘...Ha, ha, ha. It’s a story I wrote, isn’t it?’

For that reason, Leonhardt's library did not crush my current soul with the weight of its level.

It was a relief. Hah, a relief. It really was a relief, but…

-My friend. It seems there are no stories you can view at your level.

I hadn’t thought of this. I really thought I’d be able to take out even a small, trivial story.

‘It’s okay if I can’t see the full text. Just something like the stories where I endured a dragon’s breath. Or something about surviving a pit of fire and achieving something.’

-…….

Ram sighed and shook his head.

‘No, then just bring me anything I can see. There must be at least one. There are stories I made when I was at a much lower level than now.’

-When the library’s level rises, the level of the stories rises as well.

I know. It’s something that happens even if it’s not a Soul’s Library, even if one isn’t a knight.

When a person gains fame, even the small deeds they performed before they were known are embellished. Things that no one would have looked at twice when they were unknown, become something to look back on.

Then I’ll have to force the stories I can’t see to become visible. Ram will surely oppose it, but I have no choice.

‘Move it.’

-Move what?

‘I can’t move everything here… but move all the stories I made at the 2nd Star level.’

-To where? D-don’t tell me… you want me to move these great stories to your shabby library?

‘Is there anywhere else?’

-That is not possible.

‘Why not? It’s a story I made anyway.’

-Since the creation of the Soul’s Library, no one has ever done such a thing. This time, truly, you will not be able to handle the soul’s level…

As Ram continued his passionate speech, a fierce vibration that made it hard to stand rang out.

‘There’s no time.’

The time that had stopped for me to enter the Soul’s Library is trying to move again. The vibration is proof of that. The frozen cogwheels of nature are shaking to move on to the next moment.

-Y-your world will collapse!

Even though Ram knew things were serious due to the vibration, he didn’t change his mind.

At any other time, such stubbornness wouldn't be bad, but not now.

‘Have you tried it?’

-…?

‘You haven’t. So do it right now.’

He chattered on about how I wouldn’t be able to handle the soul’s level if I entered here, but my soul wasn’t crushed or torn. So this time too, just doing it is the answer.

Whether I die from my soul being shattered or from being burned to death.

‘Quickly!’

I shouted at the dithering Ram with all my might. At the same time, a stronger vibration than before began.

Ram, with a deeply troubled expression, ran to the bookshelf.

And I headed to the Soul’s Library made by Caesar.

***

Kwagwagwak!

A firestorm, stronger than before, is gnawing away at the surroundings.

“Amirios!”

The pervert leader, having lost his pupils, cried out, shedding tears of blood. It seems he can lose his reason but not his clan. But that is more tragic. To just scream without being able to take care of them himself. It might be an expression of anxiety. His body and mind might be burning in agony.

“I will end your suffering.”

With the true power of the Mana Heart that the Amirios so coveted!

Kwoong!

Dawn emitted a purple light, blocking the wave of fire.

I opened my eyes wide. I unfolded an old, faded Saga with a blurry title, brought from the Soul’s Library.

「The wolf’s loneliness is not far.

I watch the savagery that stands, holding its breath beyond the shadow.

The hyena is always hungry.

But it never hunts for itself.

It only covets the scraps of the dead,

what is not mine.

Greed, cloaked in hope, crosses the dead land.

Greed can be light, or it can be darkness.

I sit upon the greed of unknown outcome, and pray for hope.

The hyena that saw greed strokes its hungry belly.

It shows the blood and flesh between its teeth, and drools yellow saliva.

Savagery meets my eyes.

The wolf’s loneliness becomes a desperate struggle.

Hundreds of hyenas bite at me,

trying to drag me into the pit of despair.

The body of the dead is foul fuel.

The blazing fire forgets the night

and is covered in rank blood.

Savagery sings.

Do not hesitate at death, enjoy the luxury of breathing.

The wolf with a sword in its mouth no longer barks.

The hyena, clutching its hungry belly, lights up the night.

And greed continues across the dead land.

Everything flows in an instant

and I sit upon greed, thinking of hope.

Even if hope deceives me.

I look towards tomorrow.」

The story from a faint memory rose upon my Mana Heart. The letters received the blue light and surrounded me.

「I will stand alone like a wolf. - Wandering Knight, Leonhardt」

This was a story from my days as a wandering knight, when I escorted a merchant guild transporting gold. I don’t remember why they were moving the gold. I only remember there were about 200 bandits.

At that time, I relentlessly cut down the bastards who swarmed in, trusting their numbers.

They too struggled desperately to steal the gold. They set fire to the dead bodies to block the guild’s path and tried to surround and slaughter the escort knights.

It was a desperate battle. From when the sun set until it rose. To the point where I was the only one left alive among the escort forces, to the point where my entire body was stained with blood, unrecognizable.

“That’s how I made a path!”

I broke through the swarm of bandits like ants and the raging waves of fire. They said I had to run away, that it was impossible to fight back… but I did it.

So I will do it now too.

“Dawn! Show me the way!”

Dawn, empowered by the Saga, emitted a powerful light. I gripped it and swung towards the pervert leader, the starting point of the fire.

Kwang!

The pillar of blue light and the pillar of fire collided. Perhaps because it was a fire that would not be extinguished until its life force was depleted, it was not cut in a single blow.

I could feel the will to protect his clan by burning everything he had. Futile, but still.

“You think you’re the only one who risked his life? I did too!”

Dawn flickered. Purple mixed with blue, exuding the aura of morning.

“Go quietly!”

Dawn, imbued with the power of the Saga, began to cleave the pillar of fire.

The pillar of fire did not retreat. The pervert leader’s hands and feet, his body, and even his face exploded as he burned fiercely.

“Disgusting bastard!”

Squeezing my Mana Heart, I recalled ‘I will stand alone like a wolf.’ The bandits who had emerged covered in fire were vivid before my eyes. I readjusted my grip on Dawn. I walked forward, cutting down the phantoms of those bastards one by one. The pillar of fire was cut along the path Dawn had flowed.

Paang!

With a sharp sound that tore the air, the pillar’s middle was severed.

The hot energy that had been raging like a typhoon lost its power and scattered in all directions. The traces of the fire that had soared to a single point began to fall like snow.

“Keuk!”

Blood rose from within me. The taste of blood filled my mouth. Transferring the story must have been more taxing than entering Leonhardt’s library. Still, my soul wasn’t broken.

Thud.

Instead, the fatigue accumulated in my body is considerable. To keep from falling, I stabbed Dawn into the ground and leaned on it. The scattering ash covered my body. I wanted to shake off the ash and stand up, but my body wouldn’t listen. My Mana Heart is empty. I need to breathe slowly and fill it with mana.

‘Foolish bastard.’

He threw his body for the sake of his clan. That act will drive his clan to their deaths.

Anyway, I must find the bastard who gave the job to the pervert leader.

The more I think about it, the more pissed I get.

***

“I think this is it.”

Piontek, who was walking ahead, discovered a carriage. A large yellow clover emblem was emblazoned on its side.

“Maxim, do you want to check it yourself?”

Adellian asked, watching Maxim’s expression.

Maxim currently had a sullen look on his face, just snorting.

“It’s fine.”

“...Still, wouldn’t it be better to check it yourself? We need to make sure it’s what we’re looking for.”

“Odekerkh.”

Odekerkh, called out by Maxim, gave an awkward laugh and scratched his head.

“O-okay. I-I’ll check it.”

Maxim nodded and let out a long sigh.

“Phew. Stop grumbling. Does it make any sense to say you’re going to find and beat up the professor who gave the exam question?”

Adellian shook her head as if it were pathetic.

At that, Maxim’s eyes widened.

“He might be the one who ordered the killing, so of course I have to go and beat him up.”

“That’s what I’m asking, are you in your right mind? And you don’t even know if Professor Keller did it or not, yet you’re just going to beat him up? And do you think you can even hit a professor?”

“You don’t know until you try.”

“Haa, really.”

Adellian shook her head at Maxim’s response as if there was no solution. She then looked at Piontek and shot him a glance that said, ‘chip in.’

Piontek avoided Adellian’s gaze and scratched his neck.

‘What Circle was Professor Keller?’

According to his memory, Professor Keller was a 3rd Circle magician. His subject was Herbology. He researched Healing Magic, but he hadn’t sworn an oath to Sanatio, the God of Healing.

‘I think he only does basic Healing Magic.’

As the class of Healing Magic goes up, the formulas become more complex. If one makes a mistake while using it, the mana can get twisted and damage the Circle. If you’re unlucky, you might even incur the wrath of a god. For that reason, Piontek believed the rumors as they were.

‘That must be why he focuses on Herbology.’

Whenever Keller entered a class, he would habitually say that medicine was superior to Healing Magic. While Healing Magic practitioners were few, anyone could make medicine.

He would say that what increases the chances of survival on the battlefield is not Healing Magic, but herbs.

Piontek didn’t think he was wrong. It was much faster to use the right medicine for a wound than to wait for a healing magician who might never come.

‘He’s a rational and sociable person.’

That was Piontek’s impression of Professor Lucian Keller. Such a person hired someone to kill Maxim?

‘It makes no sense.’

Professor Keller was more student-friendly than other professors. He treated all students equally, without prejudice. He treated them gently. That’s why many students would approach him for counseling without hesitation.

In that context, Professor Keller had frequently said that they should take care of Maxim, who always walked alone.

‘Tsk, tsk, tsk.’

Piontek clicked his tongue inwardly as he looked at Maxim. He found it absurd that Maxim wanted to beat up the only person who had cared for him when everyone else had turned their backs.

And.

‘How is he going to beat up someone who’s a 3rd Circle?’

It was clear that Maxim had changed. But in Piontek’s thoughts…

‘But… wasn’t the pervert leader also around the 3rd Circle?’

The abilities of the pervert leader’s subordinates were roughly at the 2nd Circle level. That meant the pervert leader had to be above the 3rd Circle. Because savage humans would never follow the words of someone weaker than themselves.

‘Is he already past the 3rd Circle?’

If it’s true that the pervert leader self-destructed, it means his skill was below Maxim’s.

Piontek’s eyes widened as he looked at Maxim.

“What are you looking at?”

“Huh?”

“What? Am I too handsome? Don’t fall for me. I’m not interested in men.”

“...What the hell are you talking about?”

“Crazy?”

Maxim stared at Piontek, putting force into his eyes.

Piontek hastily avoided his gaze.

‘Something has definitely gotten weird.’

Within the aura Maxim exuded, Piontek read a dignity that wasn’t there before. And he also read danger.

‘He might have really gotten stronger…’

He hadn’t acknowledged it as a fact. But to face him while closing off even the possibility, there was an unknown fear.

“I-is this it?”

Odekerkh, who had been searching inside the carriage, came out holding a small box.

“A black box, I think that’s right.”

Adellian recalled the exam details and smiled with satisfaction.

“Open it.”

Maxim said in a sulky voice.

“Huh? A-are we not going b-back to the academy like th-this?”

“We have to check what’s inside. We need to know what the exam question was about, don’t we?”

At Maxim’s words, everyone looked at the box.

“No. Let’s just take it. There’s no need to get picked on for no reason.”

Adellian gave a model student’s answer.

At that, Maxim sighed and snatched the box from Odekerkh’s hand. And with all his might…

Rattle, rattle.

“What? It’s locked?”

He tried to open it, but the box wouldn’t budge.