37 – Chapter 37
“Haa… It’s been a while since I came alone…”
That’s right, since she started her re-challenge, she came to the Great Library with Illyana.
However, something is strange today.
A feeling of inexplicable awkwardness wraps around your body.
-Tweets
“…The sound of birds?”
The Great Library is a mechanical tower made of metal.
Creatures tend to avoid the noise generated by machines.
Even if a barrier is put up so that humans cannot hear it, even animals with super senses cannot be fooled.
For that reason, it is normal that no birdsong can be heard around the tower.
Feeling such an anomaly, I passed the barrier of cognitive inhibition surrounding the Great Library and approached until we could see the Great Library, and the abnormality was clearly confirmed visually.
“Uh…? What is this…?”
The huge metal tower, which was always hot and moved using steam, was cold.
I’ve visited Daeseogo countless times, but it’s never been like this.
Even when I first arrived, this tower was hot.
It is clear that something is wrong with Frixia.
With that thought, I ran to the entrance of the tower and pushed the door.
Then the door opened very easily.
The door, which would normally have been firmly locked and would not allow intruders, opened lightly without any resistance except for the weight of the metal.
The inside of the tower was even worse.
The lights that had been shining brightly inside disappeared completely, and the inside, where complete darkness fell, was so dark that one could not see an inch ahead.
In addition, the dolls that did not work and drooped added to the creepiness.
“Frixia!”
Even though they came in, there was no way to advance unless the floor was moving, so all they could do was shout Phryxia’s name loudly into the air.
How long has it been since I screamed incessantly, as if against the reverberation echoing through the metal, instead of an audible answer?
A sound came from the air with a hissing noise.
“Hick. Ah, Adela… Oh, not today… Go back…”
Immediately after that, there was a popping sound that I couldn’t hear again.
The only thing I could do in such a desolate space was to follow Phryxia’s words and return.
What can I do?
There is no way to go up.
I don’t know if you know the secret passage.
******
The house of the Wellesleys, with its usual tranquility, stood at the center of a great deal of commotion.
But today, even in the eye of that silent storm, confusion has come.
The silence of the Great Library was the cause.
On the condition that any questions be answered in one year, the Wellesleys allowed a great library to be built on their territory.
And in order to be able to cast her questions into the Great Library, Phryxia handed them a brass dove.
A brass dove controlled by Phryxia in the Great Library.
But now the brass dove had gathered the steam it had always spouted, and lay limp, its gleaming eyes shut.
What this means is that something happened to Daeseo, or to its owner, Frixia.
But that doesn’t mean that Wellesley has no reason or way to intervene in the Great Library.
Because we don’t even know its exact location in the first place.
That’s why there was only a commotion and it became the talk of the servants in the mansion, and no one wanted to do anything more than that.
Except for one person.
“What the hell is going on…”
“That’s right.”
Unlike Lilith, who was just getting it in one of those passing stories, Floyd was asking a pretty serious question.
In the original work, the heat of the Great Library only disappeared twice.
Once when the seal on the memories was broken, and once when the Great Library was sacrificed for Floyd.
Floyd didn’t know the exact circumstances, but she felt it was time for her to move.
There was no grandiose reason.
Even in the original work, Floyd was always in charge of Phryxia’s comeback, so she was just trying to imitate it.
******
On the top floor of the tower, where Adela’s voice could no longer be heard, Frixia removed her hand from her button with her trembling hand.
Then she retreats back to her corner, covering her mouth and minimizing her breathing.
It’s as if there’s a toxic substance in the air and he’s trying to avoid it as much as possible.
However, it is unlikely that such a thing could actually exist.
But does that matter?
To Frixia now, just having that possibility was fatal.
‘Ho, you need to slow down your breathing. If there’s even poison in the air, I might die.’
‘Be still, be still. The tower might collapse.’
‘You can’t operate the machinery. I don’t know what will happen if there’s even one thing that’s wrong.’
In that sense, the fact that Frixia just released her broadcast was an act of great courage.
Because I have overcome the thoughts that the device that amplifies sound waves might malfunction and explode, and that the thing down there might be a monster imitating Adela.
As evidence of that, didn’t Frixia make that nasty sound the moment she pressed her button?
Because the knowledge she had so far was so great, she distrusted it and the disaster that occurred was so serious.
I ate as little as possible because of the possibility of damaging it and developing fatal bacteria.
For drinking, because of the larvae or eggs of parasitic insects, I sifted through a cloth and drank the reduced water.
Besides, sleeping is almost impossible because the mind is extremely tense.
The idea of even sealing one’s memories with magic again became entangled in past failures and was never feasible.
So she shut herself up all the time, listening only to her own breathing and heartbeat.
How long had it been that it was quiet for everyone and noisy only for Freexia?
Between the sound of her heart and the sound of her breathing, which were filling her frixia’s ears, another sound began to come in.
-Tung Tang Tang Tang
“Hey…”
A sound coming from beyond the wall.
A normal Phryxia would have noticed that it was an intruder, but the current Phryxia was just trembling in fear of the tower collapsing.
The sound that had risen gradually finally stopped with a wall between it and Phryxia.
Just as the world of Phryxia was about to be filled with the sounds of heart and breath, the walls moved.
-Kurreureuk
The wall crackling open.
It was only then that Phryxia remembered the existence of a secret passage.
But that fact only pushed the spirit of Phryxia even more, and it never had a good effect.
Frixia took out her screwdriver and held it in her hand to somehow deal with the intruder who hadn’t appeared yet, but she didn’t think she would be able to drive it in properly herself.
There is no way a body that has become weak from being unable to eat, drink, or sleep properly can do such a thing.
Then, the intruder appeared in front of Phryxia, who was crouching with tension added to her body.
“…Frixia…?”
A boy with black eyes and black hair.
It was Floyd.
Floyd sighed as he looked around the top floor, then slowly began to approach Frixia.
“Oh, don’t come…”
“…”
Ignoring the embarrassing voice that Frixia shouted, or even to say she shouted, Floyd eventually stood in front of Frixia.
Frixia threw out the screwdriver in her hand, but her hand, which was not strong enough, did not provide a base for the screwdriver to penetrate her flesh and blood.
Means of resistance that have vanished in vain.
Frixia, who couldn’t even afford to properly grasp who the opponent was, crouched down again and was trembling. Floyd pulled out a card from his pocket.
It was a kind of magic tool enchanted with sealing magic.
Its power was weak, but it was an item that could work for Frixia today, who could not resist.
As Floyd lightly flicked the card, the card briefly glowed blue.
As I put the card on Phryxia’s chest, the remaining blue light flows into Phryxia.
The figure of Phryxia collapsed on the floor at the same time.
“…Frixia?”
At the same time, conflicting emotions of relief and anxiety appeared on Floyd’s face as he watched it.
As described in the original work, it is relieved to lose consciousness, but the method used is different from the original work, so it has anxiety on one side.
According to the original story, Floyd had to use magic.
But now that he hasn’t been to the academy, there’s no way he can use magic because he’s unfamiliar with magic.
A place called a warehouse in the mansion.
The countermeasure was a deck of cards with all sorts of miscellaneous magics that he had sneaked out from there.
As much as it was miscellaneous, it was inferior in performance and could only be used for shoplifting, but this was enough, so it doesn’t matter?
Floyd calmed down his anxiety and waited tirelessly for Phryxia to wake up again.
.
.
.
After such a long time, when Floyd was struggling out of boredom, Frixia finally made a move.
“Ugh…”
With her short moan, Frixia raised her body and looked around her.
Through the walls, bookshelves, and tables, she sees the bed she is lying on.
And then Fryxia turned her gaze to the man sitting next to her.
It was too easy for Fryxia, who became clever again by sealing her foolish past, to figure out her current situation.
From noble mtl dot com
“…Mother of the Wellesleys. Floyd. Is that right?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“I would like to thank you for this. Do you want something in return?”
“No. There is no such thing.”
This answer was the correct one here.
She could have asked for an ‘acquaintance’ as she did with Adela, but unlike Adela’s case, Frixia has a great deal of value in that friendship.
Even more than most goods.
That’s why asking Fryxia for her acquaintance is a deal.
And since the friendship she gained through the transaction couldn’t play a proper role, she should have thought about the future and answered like this.
…Of course, Floyd just copied the original.
But whatever the process, the result is the same.
Frixia asked several more times, and Floyd refused several more times.
When Frixia accepted Floyd’s refusal, Floyd asked her.
“…Are you curious how I helped?”
How did you know the secret passage?
How did she know her condition and how to solve it?
It was normal content to be curious about.
However, Frixia showed no signs of being curious.
I just want to express my gratitude.
And Frixia’s answer to that question came back.
“This is a token of my appreciation for helping you.”
It wasn’t that I wasn’t curious.
She just pretended not to know and decided to move on.
No matter how you find out, it’s grossly rude to step her foot into the problems of someone you don’t even know.
But since the person who committed the rudeness was the one who saved his life, he decided to make it happen.
Understanding that, Floyd nodded slightly.
+1 respect for author having common sense