＜ 6. Unexpected Companion (6) ＞
“Enough with self-introduction, let’s move on to the main topic. What do you want us to do, and how do we do it?”
Andrea said directly. Shylock stared blankly at Andrea for a moment.
“You are very… calm, aren’t you?”
“I hear that often.”
Andrea casually walked over to the desk and sat down on a chair.
Shylock was a little squeamish when he saw that the reaction was not what he expected.
Looking over her shoulder at the book made of human skin, Tricia was taken aback for a while, but soon came to her senses. She realized that the library gave her a sense of deja vu.
“I think I’ve been to this library before… But at that time, the librarian was obviously a human being, and there were only ordinary books in the space…”
“You seem to have seen the past. Trials change everything. Did you explore the dungeon without trials at first?”
Shylock approaches Trisha with a grim smile. He liked this side’s reaction much more than the wooden and stone Andrea.
Instead of taking a step back, Trisha drew her bow.
“Don’t come any closer, b*tch.”
“You don’t have to be so threatening. If you want, I can bring you back to the librarian you met then.”
Shylock’s wrinkled eyes curled like crescent moons.
“You can find it in the second row of shelf number 21.”
Tricia was at a loss for words after hearing the terrible ghost story. Andrea thought she should shut Shylock’s mouth so he wouldn’t say anything more.
“Stop chatting and come over here to guide me, won’t you? What do I have to do now?”
“Ah, that’s right. I’ll be right there.”
Shylock looked upset when his long-awaited pleasure was interrupted. However, it was the same for Andrea, who had to pretend she didn’t know the explanation she already knew.
Shylock trotted to the desk where Andrea was sitting. Shylock pulled a chair and sat down and began to explain.
“The information and knowledge that books provide are precious goods that cannot be exchanged for anything else. Wandering between the bookshelves to find out something you don’t know, and the pleasure of finding out at the end…”
“The tongue is long. I told you earlier. Skip the introduction and tell the main story.”
Hearing Andrea’s words, Shylock sighed. The more I went, the more I didn’t like the challenger in front of me.
“Because of this, I am making a simple bet to impart knowledge to the challengers. If I answer the question about the dungeon correctly, I’ll give you a reward, and if I can’t answer it, I’ll tell you the correct answer and get a small reward.”
“So, the trivial payment is to cut the person’s skin?”
Shylock’s eyes widened.
“How did you know?”
“yes? I just took a look at the book over there. It would be nice to take pictures like this when solving problems, right?”
Of course, it wasn’t taken. I only said that because I wanted to tease this insidious goblin.
The effect was excellent as expected. Shylock said in a rather excited tone.
“It is against the law to shoot. Originally, I was going to present an option for the correct answer, but there is a risk that you will take it, so I will have to do it without an option.”
“I didn’t even have a choice on what the cost was. I’m also good at taking subjective expressions.”
Shylock snorted harshly. To see him cut off the explanation and talk back to me, I felt like I wanted to immediately pull out my knife and peel off the skin of the challenger in front of me.
However, the library had strict precepts. Shylock took a deep breath and calmed himself.
“You can do whatever you want. There are 5 problems in total. We’ll sort out the problem and then we’ll start.”
Trisha, who was watching from behind, was worried. When she came to this library without an ordeal, she also solved a problem similar to the present one. Of course, Trisha, who had just explored the dungeon, got all the questions wrong.
However, at that time, there was only a reward for getting it right, and there was no skin cutting out just because it was wrong.
‘How are you going to solve the problem when you’ve only climbed the 20th floor of the dungeon?’
Trisha couldn’t overcome her impatience and approached Andrea.
“Hey, wouldn’t it be better to quit? I have experience solving problems here. It wasn’t all easy.”
“Don’t worry, I have more to say than that.”
Andrea whispered softly into Trisha’s ear.
‘While I’m working on the problem, go around the library and look for books bound in black leather. If you find it, bring it forward.’
Trisha looked at him curiously, as if asking what he was talking about. It must be your first time visiting the library, but a black leather book?
Andrea gave a brief nod of her head as a sign of trust and then turned back to Shylock.
“Now, shall we solve the problem?”
Trisha couldn’t shake her doubts, but eventually decided to do as she was told. She asked Marco to hold Shylock’s attention for a moment.
Marco took out the book again and examined it before pretending to carelessly drop it. As Shylock warns Marco, Tricia disappears through the bookshelves. Shylock didn’t notice Trisha’s whereabouts.
The cluttered atmosphere subsided and Shylock, who had finally sorted out all the problems, started raising them. The goblin librarian carefully selected only the problems that the challenger in front of him could not solve.
“This is the first problem. How much does the ‘Sacrifice Flame’, a rare card of the Crusader class, cost?”
“2 cost. Plus a lot of stamina.”
“… that is the correct answer. Second problem. The elite monster on the 50th floor, ‘Vine Maw’, has two weaknesses…”
“The cleft in the flower bud and the bump on the inside of the snout. And if you put hemorrhagic poison on the cross section of the vine, you can stop it from regenerating.”
Shylock was speechless. I haven’t even told you all the questions yet, but the correct answer came out. Including information you didn’t even know about.
Andrea easily got the third and fourth questions right as well. Shylock may have been a difficult problem to pick and choose, but it was too easy for Andrea, who had explored the dungeon countless times.
Shylock ended up with a problem he would never be able to solve.
“…This is the last question. What is the name of the boss monster on the 100th floor of the dungeon?”
Andrea glanced at Marco out of the corner of her eye and gave the correct answer in a low voice.
Shylock was dumbfounded.
“How the hell do you do that…?”
“Ah, is that correct? I took it, and I was lucky.”
“Stop thinking of scorning me! What the hell is your identity!”
Shylock couldn’t stand it and screamed out loud. Andrea didn’t care if it was or not. Andrea rests her arm on the armrest and twists her hair.
“That’s none of your business, would you like to take a look at the reward?”
Shylock couldn’t stand his temper and shivered all over.
Even so, it could not harm the challenger who got all the questions right. Andrea knew that too, so she was acting like this.
‘That guy killed the previous librarian and made a contract with the library. If you get the problem wrong, no matter how strong the challenger is, you can harm it, but if you get it right, no matter how bad the challenger is, you have no choice but to give them a reward.’
Shylock cursed in a low, barely audible voice and took out a sack from under the desk. Then, the contents inside were poured over the desk.
A variety of things that don’t even feel coherent. All were relics.
“Choose an artifact you want and take it with you.”
“Thank you very much for this. Um… But I don’t think the artifact I’m looking for is there?”
Andrea only pretended to rummage through artifacts. Tendons stood out on the goblin librarian’s forehead.
“What artifact are you looking for?”
“Ah, you just arrived. Trisha, can you bring it over here?”
Trisha pokes her head out from between the bookshelves. Shylock glared at Trisha with stern eyes. Trisha was hesitant at first, but then, as if not knowing what to do, Trisha approached, glaring at Shylock.
In Trisha’s hand was a book with a black cover. Andrea took the book and waved it in front of Shylock.
“I want this book as a reward.”
A book with the Six Visions drawn on the black cover and flashy runes engraved around it.
Shylock got up on the chair and hit the desk with both fists.
“What nonsense are you talking about!”
“According to the precepts of the library, in fact, the reward for correcting the problem is not to be chosen only from within the bag. You can choose one of the items in this library and take it with you. I will take this book as a reward.”
Shylock didn’t even have time to point out that no one new to the library knows about its precepts. The only thought left in the goblin librarian’s mind was that the book should not be taken away.
“Absolutely no Necronomicon!”
Read from noble mtl dot com
Necronomicon, a unique grade artifact that is said to have been written by a great prophet in just one day after receiving a revelation from the Shadow God.
It is clearly different from the real Necronomicon of the outside world, which summons a grotesque god whose tentacles wriggle and go mad just by reading it. However, here, too, they share only the basic setting of a sorceress with formidably dangerous performance.
The effect of the Necronomicon is to increase maximum mana by 1 in exchange for receiving a curse card that cannot be removed.
It was a decent effect considering that most of the artifacts that increase max mana do so at the cost of huge restrictions.
The penalty of receiving a curse card that could not be removed was a bit painful, but it was more urgent to increase mana for Andrea, who had a maximum mana of 1.
Andrea was done with her business, so she lightly ignored Shylock and got up. Marco and Trisha followed Andrea with puzzled expressions.
Shylock, who had been screaming loudly, grabbed a skinning knife and chased after Andrea, who didn’t even pretend to hear.
“That book is my treasure!”
When it was difficult to follow him due to his slow steps, he threw a leather knife at Andrea.
Andrea could clearly see the trail of the knife flying. However, he did not dodge and stayed still.
Just before reaching, the leather knife hit something and fell to the floor. The precepts of the library were working.
Andrea snorted and left the library without looking back. Marco and Tricia took one shot at Shylock and followed Andrea.
“Keee
Left alone, Shylock took out a book from the bookshelf and threw it away, screaming. Books made of human skin were scattered on the floor.
The Necronomicon was a special book for Shylock. When I thought that the infinite knowledge contained therein had been stolen intact, I couldn’t calm down easily.
However, after emptying three or four rows of bookshelves, I felt a bit exhausted. Shylock lay down on the chair for a moment. A goblin librarian who covers his face and catches his breath.
What the hell is that unknown guy?
However, as I thought about it, a thought flashed through my mind. That shameless face, although it had changed a lot, it seemed like I had met it before.
I searched my memory. I couldn’t be sure because it was a memory from a very long time ago, but there was a name that came to my mind vaguely.
Shylock looked at the exit with a bewildered look and murmured softly.
“Is that guy… that damn thief?”
＜ 6. Unexpected Companion (6) ＞ End
I knew it was foreshadowing, it was obvious the moment it was mentioned the first time.