Previously
Richmond reveals that Ariella is a rare human capable of containing the full magical capacity of a Demon King. After the group leaves, Ludvic reflects on his strange attraction to Ariella's bold personality, comparing her to a feisty red chihuahua and deciding to entrust her with the territory's administration.
“Oh my goodness! I’m so happy, I can’t believe it! Finally, after twenty years, an actual visitor has come to browse this library!”
The fairy threw her hands in the air and broke into a joyful little dance, while Ariella stared at her in utter disbelief, her face freezing mid-expression.
Things had gotten completely out of hand. Only moments ago, this fairy had been cold and razor-tongued, yet now she was welcoming Ariella like a long-lost sister she had not seen in decades.
‘Is she always prone to mood swings this extreme?’
Once the fairy had calmed down a bit, she began to explain herself.
“It’s been so terribly long since anyone came here to read anything… that I ended up losing my head without meaning to. Oh, right! I haven’t even introduced myself, have I?”
She seemed to have transformed into a completely different person, her eyes sparkling with vibrant life.
“My name is Philly. Forgive me, what was your name again?”
Ariella, feeling overwhelmed by the deluge of words, pulled out the letter and offered it to her.
The document stated her name and identity, bearing at its foot a direct order from the Demon King—written out in Richmond’s own hand—demanding full cooperation with her.
She also recalled what Ludvic had said when he handed her the letter.
“Work hard, but don’t make more work for me.”
Really… he was quite an eccentric man.
“I had no idea His Majesty the Demon King made a contract!”
The fairy Philly exclaimed in wonder, then suggested Ariella speak with her informally and feel at ease.
‘Even though she was treating me like a suspicious intruder just a moment ago…’
The wall of ice she had erected around herself seemed to have melted away in an instant.
“Has the number of visitors here truly been so small?”
“Oh, don’t even ask…”
The fairy sighed, as if looking back over the years.
“The inhabitants of this territory have no interest in books whatsoever.”
Well, it was only natural they wouldn’t care for the written word while struggling just to put food on the table.
“It’s been more than fifty years since I started working here, and everyone who’s stepped through that door until today was either looking for the privy, coming to steal paper to use in it, or asking for directions.”
Philly shivered with disgust.
Small wonder she had grown sharp-edged; anyone who had to deal day in and day out with people who cared nothing for books, asked bizarre questions, and even tried to steal the volumes was bound to sour in temperament.
“Still, don’t you think the library is rather massive for having no visitors?”
Though it was old and neglected, its scale was indeed immense.
“Since so many records have been lost, I can’t say for certain, but it appears to have been built long, long ago.”
“During the time of the previous Demon King?”
“No, far older than that. It probably dates back to the reign of the King before the King before the King before the King before the King before the King before the King before the King, give or take!”
Ariella tried to tally how many times the fairy repeated the words “the King before,” but gave up in the end.
“It seems this territory was once very prosperous in those days.”
“Indeed. Had this library been built recently, it wouldn’t have been this large in the first place. Or perhaps it wouldn’t have been built at all.”
“Wouldn’t you say? But here… they clearly spent a fortune constructing it. Look over there.”
Ariella followed the fairy’s gaze.
“Ah… truly.”
Another breath of admiration slipped from her lips. The library’s deeper interior, once hidden behind rows of long wooden tables, had laid itself bare.
There, towering stone pillars lined the hall along its entire length.
Though worn by the passage of time, the high reliefs carved into their surfaces appeared remarkably elaborate and extraordinary.
According to Philly’s explanation, this library had originally been a massive stone structure resembling a temple.
Over the years, the roof and outer walls had caved in, and those parts had been patched together on the fly with cheap materials, resulting in the look it wore today.
“If you take a stroll deeper inside, you’ll find plenty of rare, ancient books that would be hard to come across even in other territories. The only problem is that no one cares.”
Rare books?
Ariella’s eyes lit up brightly, true bibliophile that she was. Her bond with books was simply inseparable.
Ever since childhood, she would refuse to set a book down even if it meant skipping meals, to the point that everyone around her grew worried.
In the first place, she had only started studying magic because she used to collect old books without distinction, until one day she stumbled upon a grimoire.
“I want to see them. Right now!”
“I’ll show you the way!”
Only then did Philly remember she had wings, unfurling two pairs of sheer, dragonfly-like wings and lifting into the air.
Bzzzz—!
Ariella followed her at once. Before long, she was swallowed up in overwhelming excitement as she wandered deeper into the library.
‘I wouldn’t mind dying right here.’
Even at a glance, the sheer catalog of books housed here was astounding.
The shelves were packed with titles that stoked her deepest passions.
• “One Hundred Deadly Poisons of the Demon Realm”
• “How to Curse Your Enemy in the Most Agonizing Way”
• “The Secret Private Life of the Demon King Heidelberg”
• “Clauses and Labor Rights: Do the Dead Have Rights?”
• “A Study of Multi-Fields Constructed via Gravitational Magic: Assessing Physical Impact on Bodies”
Her facial muscles twitched involuntarily in sheer awe. Yet she did not reach for a book just yet, continuing to press onward.
Her curiosity over what the next shelves might hold burned far stronger than any fleeting impulse.
And while she was ablaze with hunger for knowledge, her eyes caught something remarkable.
“All these books were written by human authors, weren’t they?”
“Can you tell just from the titles? From here on are the shelves that came from the human realm.”
“No, wait just a moment!”
Ariella’s expression turned dead serious all at once. She pointed up toward a high shelf.
“That book! Please, pull it down for me this instant!”
She had caught only a fleeting glimpse of the title, but it rested high out of her reach.
Philly darted up swiftly and took it down with ease. Even though the tome was thick and looked heavier than her own body, her movements were light and effortless.
“It’s really it!”
Ariella wiped the dust gathered on the cover, swallowing hard in eager anticipation.
“Volume One of The History of the Empire, written by Berellios! And it’s a first edition!”
Berellios had been a renowned historian who lived in the human realm roughly five hundred years ago.
Volume Two of The History of the Empire had been designated an imperial national treasure and was preserved in the Imperial Museum. Yet Volume One had been lost, never found despite all the empire’s efforts.
Rumor had it that whoever discovered it could name whatever price they wished…
“A rare volume that couldn’t even be found in the human realm, sitting right here in the demon realm?”
And that was not all.
“And the book beside it is an anthology of ninety-nine romance poems by the legendary poet Chilva?! A handwritten manuscript?!”
“And this one is Introduction to Dimensional Magic, penned by the great mage Mondrian! The very book that completely transformed humanity’s understanding of spatial magic! Even the equations and diagrams sketched in the margins by the author himself are still intact?!”
“…And what’s more, judging by the title, this book is the memoir of a ruler from an ancient magical kingdom! I didn’t even know such a work existed in this world!”
Ariella drew a deep, ragged breath.
“I want to read it right now!”
Legendary, rare books whose traces had vanished from the human realm centuries ago, and tomes containing lost, ancient secrets.
Books that devoted readers would lay down their lives for, scattered all over the place!
And every single one was within her reach, close enough to touch.
Her heart thumped violently.
She wanted nothing more than to bundle up all these books and hide away in a corner of the Demon King’s castle right this second, but she knew the time was not right.
It seemed demons had little regard for the value of human books. That was why they had been left utterly neglected here.
Her giddy smile faded, and she asked why these books were here in the first place.
“The Demon King who ruled this land long ago frequented the human realm, or so ‘that person’ believes.”
“Who is ‘that person’?”
Philly hesitated to speak his name.
After several probing questions, his identity became clear.
“Ah, Richmond?”
Apparently, on his very first day in the territory, he had wandered around here, taken a few necessary books with him, and never set foot inside again.
“That person cares only for modern trends in magic; he doesn’t seem overly concerned with the dusty old books piled up here. But in this library, not a single new publication has arrived in the past fifty years.”
“Fifty years?”
“Yes, exactly fifty years! They say that was when the head of finances changed. And from that point on, things have stayed just like this.”
Letting half of her muttered words fade into the background, Ariella seized upon the mention of fifty years.
So that was the period during which Bivar had been managing the funds?
‘That fiend! He’s been bleeding the budget dry for half a century. Just where was he spending it all?’
That was long before Ludvic had ever assumed the throne.
“Without any budget allocated, it couldn’t be helped. Should I call it a curse and a blessing at the same time? I’m terrified of that man. If he came around here often, that in itself would be an ordeal.”
At any rate, Ariella longed to lose herself in the books right away, but she had duties to finish first.
Tamping down her urge to read, she passed through the ancient archives and made her way toward the official records section.
And along the way, Ariella stumbled upon another grave problem in this library.
“Good heavens, Philly! What in the world is that strange thing over there?”
END