<380 - The Answer to the Quiz in My Mind>
“Oknodie. Why is the path to the library so treacherous?”
Titosso popped his head out, glowing with curiosity.
“Ugh. It’s so bright.”
“Oops, sorry! I’ll switch it to the gray of stealth.”
Clack.
With the brightness dimmed, my eyes felt much more comfortable. Titosso’s curious face became much clearer too.
“It’s dangerous because the library is!”
“More than the gate we just passed?”
“Of course!”
“Why?”
“Because the library is a treasure trove of knowledge, right?”
“Is it?”
“There must be many people trying to snatch away valuable knowledge!”
“Uh-huh.”
“To fend off such people, security measures must exist.”
For the still clueless Titosso, I just laid it out bluntly.
“If you break the security rules, you get thrown into the lockup room or puzzle room or the gimmick forest!”
“Wow. Cutting-edge security facilities! That sounds fun.”
“There’s not even a newbie rescue policy that automatically sends you out after a week if you really try to escape!”
People only understand the frightening nature of laws when they believe they could become criminals. Titosso, just like me, thought that good people like them wouldn’t ever break the library’s security rules and looked wide-eyed like an awakened baby.
“But newbies don’t know the security rules!”
“Uh… so where do you find the security rules?”
“At the library!”
“Then you can just ask the librarian for the security rules. What’s the problem?”
“Getting caught by the librarian is a violation of the security rules!”
“Whaaat?? Then how do you find the security rules?”
“Secretly, without the librarian knowing!”
“…That’s weird!!!”
After some pondering, Titosso suddenly shouted.
“If visitors are treated this strictly, there’s no point in opening the library! New users can’t even use it!”
“That’s the point of the library’s existence.”
“Liar. Where is there a library like that in the world?”
“Surprisingly, there are many.”
“I agree.”
Arcadia and Northern Grand Duchess Irene, who had been listening from behind, nodded in agreement.
“The archives of the duke’s mansion during the duchy era had different borrowing privileges depending on the distributed ranks. Those ranks were decided based on status and position in the duchy. Those who didn’t receive a rank were entirely prohibited from entry.”
“The northern grand archive is the same. We never know when the demonic clan will infiltrate and steal precious knowledge or create weapons out of that knowledge to challenge us. Only those we can trust are allowed to enter and use it.”
The royal archives of various nations and the imperial archives are even stricter; if anything, they’re more controlled than that.
A library is not like a public library on Earth in the 21st century that is open to everyone.
“That’s strange. We’re first years! It should be open to students.”
“It is open to students, but to existing upperclassmen who know the ‘security rules.’”
Arcadia laughed wryly.
“As is typical of member facilities, new users can’t use the library without recommendations or introductions from qualified existing members or knowledge transfers. It’s like a miniature version of the outside world cleverly implemented within the academy so that students who don’t know the upper crust of society can understand.”
Knowing that there’s a definite reason, even Titosso hesitated, closing his mouth. Living in a fantasy world, he must have realized this inevitable truth.
In a world with a pervasive class system, discrimination, oppression, the abuse of power by the privileged, and the absolute superiority of knowledge aren’t unusual.
Only now did the structure that forces one to confront all evil in the world, obscured by elitism, finally enter Titosso’s mind.
“Hey, sorry to interrupt the chit-chat, but the fourth gate is coming up ahead.”
The fourth gate of the library expedition, where you must sacrifice someone, solve a puzzle requiring knowledge, and pass through a foreboding forest awaited us.
What greeted us was a big signpost and countless crossroads.
[Surprise Event [Quiz Corner!] Occurred.]
━━━
[Quiz Corner!]
Ahead lies a plethora of quizzes.
Getting the answers right speeds your journey to the library, but the more wrong answers you choose, the tougher the path becomes.
The door of knowledge opens only to those who seek righteousness.
Is your righteousness strong enough to open the door to the final trial leading to the library?
Don’t be disheartened if you feel lacking in knowledge.
At the end of the path, the library will surely be waiting for you.
It’s just that for the ignorant, a long and arduous journey awaits!
━━━
Dorothy quickly ran to the sign with the problems.
And then froze right there.
The students following her gasped and covered their mouths in shock.
“Quiz 0001…?”
“Does that mean the questions go up to the thousands?”
This kind of thing could easily bewilder newbies.
It’s like being lured in by the promise of a thousand won for answering a survey only to find over 200 items stacked like a mountain of questions.
“So, what does everyone want to do?”
“What do you mean ‘what to do’?”
“Do you want to quickly answer and head to the boss fight, or take your time and enjoy a drawn-out battle?”
As I urged them, even Son Ohchun now fully understood the gimmick leading to the library.
“Hey, little mouse. Going quick means more suffering, right? But going back is less suffering?”
“Exactly!”
“Based on what you’ve done so far, going back seems like the right answer, but we also have this much strength. Isn’t it okay to try taking a shortcut once?”
“Well, experiencing it once wouldn’t be too bad!”
There’s no reason to stop a newbie from being eager.
━━━
[Quiz 0001]
At the Valhermina Shore, deep-sea fish come up to the surface.
Some say the fish came up to escape an earthquake, while others say they fled from the movements of a maritime giant monster.
Marine biologists call these deep-sea fish worthless fish, but why did they come up to the surface?
━━━
[Sign 1]
Maternal instincts: To protect the eggs in their bellies from deep-sea predators.
━━━
[Sign 2]
Worthless: They can’t function properly when currents become slightly turbulent, drifting like flotsam, and getting swept along to the surface.
━━━
[Sign 3]
Just: Because I feel like it.
━━━
“Easy clue.”
“The Forest Guardian says this side is the answer!”
“I think this side looks interesting.”
The opinions of the expedition team were split.
Maternal instincts for Dorothy, worthless for Irene, and just for Son Ohchun.
“Oknodie, pick. Which is the answer?”
I know this; if one person picks, then the favorability of the other two drops—classic unfair pattern, right?
“All three are right, so let’s go separately!”
The three grumbled but gathered the children following them.
Soon, the expedition team split into three groups.
Watching them excitedly vanish down their separate paths made me feel quite proud.
“Surely, the real answer was separate paths?”
Ziang asked, still left behind, and I nodded with a grin.
“Flip the problem sign over!”
━━━
The answer is 4.
━━━
“There isn’t a Sign 4!”
“If there isn’t one, we have to find it.”
Hearing that, something clicked for Ziang, and he concentrated mana to activate Search Eye and Insight.
Looking at the tall passageway on the ceiling, Ziang couldn’t help but be shocked.
“That’s the shortcut?”
“Yup, wanna go check it out?”
“Do we not take Titosso?”
“It’s a bit dangerous for Titosso!”
“Then that makes it more tempting.”
Ziang hopped lightly onto the sign and reached the ceiling passage. I too used my enhanced jumping ability to join them, taking the shortcut made for just the two of us.
“Oknodie, I can see down below.”
“That’s the privilege of the shortcut!”
Through the grate below, I could see students struggling in front of the signpost and Son Ohchun, who was fending off monsters that were crowding in by picking the wrong answers to buy time.
It looked like Son Ohchun was having quite a tough time misjudging Titosso as a smart character!
“Oknodie. Those kids down there.”
“Uh? They’re not our kids?”
“That’s Hector’s group.”
Coincidentally, Hector’s group was heading in the direction Dorothy was going.
And surprisingly, leading them was Yui.
She was ranked 2.5 in the female character popular voting.
Despite receiving random starting buffs from Dorothy, earnable characters like her must have their own standing within Hector’s group, higher than mine!
But not higher than me, of course!
‘Huh?’
But one person caught my eye.
Standing at the back of Hector’s group, pressuring us like a flock of sheep being herded towards us.
Disheveled green hair and big round glasses.
A kindly smiling face paired with ruthless eyes.
All of these made up a single person.
“Ugh, Tetraphos!”
“What’s wrong? Do you know that senior?”
“I know her extremely well. Dangerous senior, actually.”
“How dangerous?”
“I’ve been killed three times by that senior!”
Ziang chuckled.
“I’m not fooled anymore. If Oknodie is perfectly alive in front of me, how could you have been killed by that senior? You were probably about to say you experienced the dangers of the academy through training from the foundation before entering the academy, weren’t you?”
“…Yup!! That’s exactly it!”
Even though it was a rather grim scene, Ziang couldn’t take his eyes off the students who were heavily injured.
Ziang’s gaze lingered particularly long on a friend who was limping and helping another weak one, or someone so dizzy they couldn’t see ahead.
“Hmm~ So Ziang wished to do something like that?”
“Whatever are you talking about? There’s no way I’d envy such weaklings!”
“Heh. I didn’t say anything!”
Ziang frowned as she pulled down the mask she had been pushing up on her forehead.
Alright, I’ll indulge her a bit.
“Here.”
“What are you doing?”
“I’ll help you.”
Assuming a posture like a caregiver, Ziang shot me a dumbfounded look.
“Helping is for those who are hurt.”
“Is that so?”
I just wanted to raise favorability when I needed to.
Though instead of increasing the 90% chance favorability, it only spiked fear or loyalty!
“If I fight that senior, I’ll definitely be heavily injured.”
“Maybe?”
“Of course, not that I particularly want to be helped.”
Ziang seems to have a sensitive girl’s heart.
“Alright. I’ll injure myself while attacking the senior so that in the chaos, I can get injured by Ziang!”
“…You don’t have to hurt yourself that much.”
The emotionless genius assassin has a way of thinking that stands out.
Hearing Ziang mutter, I felt a swell of pride.
A genius, huh? I must have received a compliment!
