CH 204

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After entering the library with Infinite Mirage Prison, I was soon captured by Maki, Ringo, and Mitsuki. 

Within them, Maki was the one that was especially angry.

“Geez, you really always see things like a game, Souma!” (Maki)

She said this and reprimanded my ears off. Ringo looked baffled with her expressionless face.

“…Souma, why are you so Souma?” (Ringo)

And said such a philosophical question.

On top of that, Mitsuki made a rare excited expression.

“Good grief, don’t be so distant. I can pay for your entrance fee.

That’s why…can I…nibble on those ears a bit…?” (Mitsuki)

…No, I feel like that’s a bit different, but anyways, I want you to wait for a bit. 

Of course, I am not perfect. 

I do end up reflexively entering walls just like how I did in the game, but that’s something any modern person used to games would do. 

Also, I did this after careful thought. 

I was simply playing around a bit with Maki in order to soothe her a bit when she was worrying.

And yet, being thought of as if I seriously did this just to skip on paying the entrance fee…do I really lack that much trust? I feel a bit sad about this. 

“Hey, Maki, it is not like I used the wall jump because I seriously didn’t want to pay the entrance fee—” (Souma)

I said this in order to make her understand, but…

“Too bad. Looks like time has run out.” (Mitsuki)

Before I could finish explaining, Mitsuki was the first one to slide away from me. 

“Aah, it is not my problem~.” (Maki)

And then, Maki.

“…Come back…with a clean body…” (Ringo)

Even Ringo left some mysterious words as she separated from me.

“O-Oi?” (Souma)

Just what in the world happened? 

I was confused here, but the next instant, that question melted at the chilling tone that rang from my back. 

“—Can I hear in detail about this?” 

I hesitantly look back at this feeling of deja vu. 

“S-Seirie-san?” (Souma)

When I did, there was the bespectacled librarian I imagined and…

“Sagara-sama, I have something to talk with you about, so you don’t mind coming with me for a bit to the room deeper in, right?” (Seirie)

“…Okay.” (Souma)

I was taken deeper into the library just as she ordered. 

The place I was brought to was an office room normal people can’t go into.

“U-Uhm…it has been a while, Seirie-san.” (Souma)

I couldn’t endure the silent pressure and spoke a transparent greeting. Seirie-san raised her eyebrow a bit at this. 

“It has been a while? I met you just yesterday though.” (Seirie)

“Eh? …Ah, yeah.” (Souma)

Being told this, I remembered. 

In my perspective, I have not met Seirie-san for more than 2 weeks, but that was erased with the rewind. 

I was internally flustered by this, but Seirie-san soon loosened her expression.

“…Well, if what you meant is that that’s how much you missed me, it doesn’t feel that bad though.” (Seirie)

Looks like she doesn’t mind it that much.

I sighed in relief, but that was overly hasty. 

“However, please don’t think I will fall with just that degree of cajolery.” (Seirie)

“Y-Yes ma’am!” (Souma)

It figures that Seirie-san’s anger wouldn’t calm down with just that much. She gave me a sharp glare. 

“If you really want me to forgive you, you should spin 3 times and say ‘Seirie-san, I will treasure you for the rest of my life! Please marry me!’.” (Seirie)

“…Excuse me?” (Souma)

That made no sense, but it seems like she is really angry. 

I shrunk my body and waited for her to batter me more, but Seirie-san simply peeked at me every now and then as if waiting for something, and didn’t say anything more. 

“Uhm…” (Souma)

When I spoke to her, Seirie-san’s angry face turned even angrier, and after doing an intentional cough, she finally resumed talking. 

“Now that it is your second altercation, this is already not an issue with money. 

I have judged that there’s a 99.3% chance that you lack moral values.” (Seirie)

“I-Is that so…” (Souma)

Was there a need to put that in percentage? But going against the angry Seirie-san would be foolish.

I stop at just retorting internally. 

“I did think of fining you or giving you away to the guards, but there’s no knowing if that will solve the root of the problem.

And so, I have prepared this for such an occasion in order to fix your morals.” (Seirie)

What Seirie-san brought out after saying this were a few papers. 

It is packed with questions, and they had questions with checkboxes for: yes, no, and inconclusive.

Is this a personality test? It is a question sheet that I would normally see in official surveys. 

“This is…?” (Souma)

Seeing this stack of papers that didn’t match the medieval fantasy setting, I hesitantly asked this, and Seirie-san answered with a glint on her glasses.

“It is a moral evaluation sheet to judge your moral values. 

I will have you do this first, and have you notice your own issues.” (Seirie)

“I-I see…” (Souma)

Looks like I am being suspected of having dangerous morals. 

I was impressed by how a library has something like this and…

“By the way, I made this yesterday.” (Seirie)

“Eh…?” (Souma)

“It was an all-nighter. It is the first time in my life that I have done an all-nighter for anything aside from reading books.” (Seirie)

She said this proudly, but what would she have done if I hadn’t come?

And the reality is that I didn’t come here until the rewind. 

“And so, once I answer these questions and there’s no issues…” (Souma)

“I will forget about this incident and you will be released.” (Seirie)

I was surprised by this, but that’s what I wanted. 

I don’t want my comrades to treat me like a weirdo the whole time, and I do want to return to my original objective which is to search for information about the Evil God. 

Honestly speaking, it pains me a bit, but I decided to put on a bit of a mask here and get through this.

“Understood. I will do it!” (Souma)

I answered energetically and Seirie-san nodded satisfied as she said ‘that’s what makes you the ultimate hero, the Sinking Prince Souma’ and gave me a pen.

This has nothing to do with water -is what I thought as I took the pen and scanned the questions. 

“…Hm?” (Souma)

Seeing them, I tilted my head. 

I thought for sure there would be difficult stuff in order to test my moral parameters, but that wasn’t it. 

Rather, it is shock full of simple questions like ‘I think stealing is bad’ and ‘no matter what happens, I wouldn’t want to pay money to others’ which even an elementary schooler would be able to answer. 

Or more like, those are weird questions to throw from the very beginning. 

□Yes    □No    □Inconclusive

…Man, this is horrible. 

Is there anyone who would fall for this question? 

Even if you are an actual thief, if you were to honestly answer ‘Yes’ here, forget about morals, you would be an idiot.

(Could it be that Seirie-san really is an airhead?) (Souma)

I had my doubts, but that would be convenient for me.

(If it is like this, I can return to my research.) (Souma)

I checked the ‘Inconclusive’ while thinking about this. 

“D-Done…” (Souma)

It took me longer than expected, but I have finished answering all the questions. 

It was easy until the middle, but it seems like she ran out of material at the end, there were a lot more questions that had nothing to do with morals, and the choices for Yes, No, and Inconclusive were gone, so it ended up taking more time. 

I lowered my gaze onto the question sheet once more in order to check whether I missed any question.

□I don’t need □1-2 □3-8 □Enough to make a soccer team □More than that. 

□Metal Frame □Cell Frame □Half Rim □Rimless □Pince-nez

□Wears glasses □Loves books □Librarian □Name begins with Se

How is she going to tell my moral compass by asking me what my likes for glasses are? 

I got a bit uneasy about this, but I can just complain if there’s a weird result. 

“Done.” (Souma)

“Yes, I have certainly received it.” (Seirie)

I felt like the glasses of Seirie-san shone the moment she received the papers and I had a bit of a bad feeling about it, but I just brushed it off as me overthinking it. 

There’s no way she would be able to find a problem from such questions, so I should get a not guilty verdict here. 

“Speaking of which, I heard that you came to the library seeking knowledge related to the Evil God.” (Seirie)

“Eh? Yeah…” (Souma)

I did feel like it was a waste of time that my research was not progressing with me being imprisoned here. 

Before I was brought here by Seirie-san, I asked everyone to investigate the Evil God; especially things revolving around the south solitary island and the Seal Tribe. 

Looks like Seirie-san heard that. 

…Also, I asked them to search for Ina and Sazan who apparently got separated in the middle. 

Well, Ina is most likely lost in the library because she couldn’t keep up with the speed of Mitsuki and the others. As for Sazan, he got separated in the library fortunately, so he is most likely digging through the books of the library and enjoying it anyways so I am not worried though. 

Even if there’s a bit of a difference from when it was a game, I can confidently say that I know every nook and cranny of a place where I could go in the game. 

The knowledge I don’t know about is the Evil God and anything deeply related to it, the south solitary island that wasn’t implemented in the game, and the Seal Tribe that’s supposed to be living there. 

While I was thinking back about this, Seirie-san pushed her glasses up and said this. 

“The inside of my head is filled with knowledge about all the books in this library. 

If you have something you are looking for, I might be of help.” (Seirie)

“Aah, I see!” (Souma)

We were just thinking about searching for ourselves, and didn’t even think about asking someone to help.

This is probably one of the reasons why Maki told me ‘game perspective’.

I reflected a bit here and lowered my head at Seirie-san.

“Please do.” (Souma)

“Understood… That said, there’s many stories related to the Evil God. 

Can you please narrow it down a bit more?” (Seirie)

Being told this, I ponder.

“Uhm…in that case, about the south solitary island, the Seal Tribe, and also the priestess…

Ah, as for particular people, ones like Nameless and Neitia!” (Souma)

“Nei…tia?” (Seirie)

The last words I said made the eyes of Seirie-san shine. 

“There should be a single diary from a long time ago in the archive. 

If I remember correctly, the author of it was Neitia…” (Seirie)

“Really?!” (Souma)

The Seal Priestess that lived in the Evil God Great War era.

If that diary exists, it would be the biggest lead. 

I got excited at the unexpected development and…

“—Souma, I found it too!” 

The familiar voice of my cousin.

Could it be that we have found another important lead about the Evil God?! 

I look back with surprise and expectation, and what was there was…

“Wait, that’s what you found?!!” (Souma)

Maki was standing there all proudly while holding the missing masked mage by the back of his collar.