Volume 8, 3: The Duty of the Proud Slaves – Part 2

Volume 8, Chapter 3: The Duty of the Proud Slaves – Part?2

After being promoted to an Armed Librarian, Yukizona worked brilliantly. Making up for his inability of diving in the Labyrinth, he gained many achievements outside the Library.

He monitored the ceasefire in the Region of Kuler and assisted the maintenance of public order. He discovered a new mine and took command of its excavation. He established a system of international cooperation pertaining to Book-related crimes.

Yukizona became famous to the outside world. His friend Mokkania also did steady work. No matter who of the two – Yukizona or Mokkania – would become the next Acting Director, Bantorra Library would be peaceful – this was said in many places.

However, during that period Hamyuts and Mattalast were secretly worrying.

He only came to know of this later, but apparently they had held the following discussion.

“What should we do about the next Acting Director? For real now.”

Hamyuts held her head while looking at both of their documents in the Acting Director’s Office.

“There’s definitely no suitable person.”

Mattalast also racked his brains. Public opinion was that Yukizona and Mokkania were perfect fits. However, they could not inherit the office.

“Both Yukizona and Mokkania are surprisingly good kids. What can we do? Why are such good kids Armed Librarians in the first place?”

Hamyuts said, seemingly completely lost.

The Acting Director couldn’t be a good person; their job was to deceive the entire world and carry out evil, after all. The best were those who, like Photona and Mattalast, were villains in good people’s skin. The second best were people who were real villains such as Hamyuts.

Actually good people like Yukizona and Mokkania were the worst for the job.

“Bonbo is quite a piece of shit, but… he can’t serve as the Acting Director.”

“Anyway, seems like we have no choice except Yukizona or Mokkania. Well, we just need to see how things go.”

Three years passed. Yukizona kept working as an Armed Librarian without any change. While he always appeared cold and heartless, his decisions would be usually correct. His reputation didn’t change at all.

The time came for Yukizona to be told of the truth. Yukizona and Yuri were brought along with Hamyuts down to the Second Sealed Labyrinth.

They were told it was something important. However, it seemed like Hamyuts was hesitating about something.

Without making any speculations, Yukizona and Yuri walked quietly.

“…I feel a bit bad telling you this.”

Hamyuts said.

“Why?”

“Because you actually believed it… You believed that the Armed Librarians are allies of justice.”

What a horrible thing to say, thought Yukizona.

Frankly speaking, Yukizona quite disliked Hamyuts. His reason was different from everyone else’s, though. It was because he thought that she was impure as an Armed Librarian.

“If that’s not true, then I have no reason to work as an Armed Librarian.”

Hamyuts sighed deeply while walking.

“Aah, maybe I really should stop. What can I do after being told that? How troublesome. Help me, Yuri.”

Yuri raised an eyebrow after being told this.

“Yukizona. Unfortunately, the Armed Librarians are not what you thought. They’re neither allies of justice nor defenders of order.

I think you’ll be quite shocked. But don’t kill yourself or anything.”

And then Hamyuts started speaking. She told them of the true history of the Armed Librarians he had offered his gratitude to.

Moving ahead in time, it was January 12, 1927.

Inside Bantorra Library, where chaos now ruled, Hamyuts spoke in front of the voice device.

“Well then, it is time for me to also tell you the truth. I will tell you the true history of this Bantorra Library.

If you don’t understand it you will also not understand the current situation. Please listen calmly, everyone.”

Hamyuts inserted a long silence so that everyone would firmly understand what she said so far.

Four years ago she had the same talk with Yukizona. She also paused like that back then. The story this time was directed at the entire Armed Librarians body.

“Well then… really now, where should I start?

I know, I’ll start with an allegory.”

By using her Sensory Threads, she checked the situation of the Armed Librarians in front of the Sixth Archive who were listening to her. The Library that should have turned into a battlefield was now completely silent.

“Have your parents read you fairy tales and such when you were children?

And in these stories were evil people who wanted to rule the world, right?

Like a demon lord, an evil king, something like that.

In these kinds of stories they would end up exterminated by the allies of justice. These heroes protected the peace of the world.

But haven’t you ever tried imagining another possibility? If the demon lord had taken over the world, what would have happened?”

There were probably only a few people who did so. More importantly, they didn’t have the leisure to think of such a thing.

“The world we live right now is one controlled by one such evil sovereign.

In contrast to fiction, no allies of justice appeared in reality.

The emperor made the whole world submit to him, and no one was able to oppose him any longer. People became the servants of that evil emperor and continued their lives.

The truth is that this is the kind of world we live in.

But there are also good things about this. Most of the people living in the world don’t know they’re being controlled by that evil emperor. They don’t even know he exists. As long as they don’t go against the evil emperor, they can live peacefully enough.

Thinking like this, it isn’t so bad, right?”

Hamyuts was a bit dissatisfied because response was too weak. I think that was a great allegory though…

“Obviously, since the evil emperor is a bad guy, he uses underlings to control the populace. Those underlings, while possessing power and authority, do bad things all over the world.

They are us, the Armed Librarians.”

She knew the Armed Librarians all raised their eyebrows. They couldn’t understand the true meaning of her words.

“I know it’s hard to believe, but this is the truth.

Shall we move to a more concrete topic? Let us move to the origin of this world and the Armed Librarians.”

Hamyuts’s story continued further. She repeated the same talk she had had with Yukizona in the past.

“The world 2000 years ago was called the Age of Paradise. You all know this, right.

We don’t know how long it lasted. It’s said to have been for 10,000 years, and maybe even 100,000 years.

During that time, the world was governed by the three World Overseers.

Future Overseer Orntorra guided people, Present Overseer Toitorra ruled nature, and Past Overseer Bantorra recorded all events.

Their rule was perfect. It was very different from today’s Present Management Agency or any government.

In the same way people of the world were also different from now. Everyone in the world was nice, gentle people like Noloty. During that time, people lived in peace without any conflict or hatred.

People also had pleasant and wonderful comrades at their sides. Fairies that led people astray, the respectful and awe-inducing dragons, as well as other monsters and fantastic creatures. However, they were never people’s enemies. They only existed to bring some color to the world.

It was a wonderful age. Everyone was like a child in a cradle.

However, we can’t see how the Age of Paradise was with our own eyes. Because we can’t read the Books of that time.

If any of us saw a Book from the Age of Paradise even once, we might become sick of living in this world.”

The Armed Librarians were so silent that they would be able to hear a pin fall on the floor. They had to listen to her every word.

“Why had that Age of Paradise ended? That is a problem all historians in the world are working on, but we actually know the truth.

Simply put, the reason for its ending was the appearance of wicked people.

Those wicked people were those who possessed desire. Everyone has some desire, though. This means they had more desire than what the World Overseers permitted.

The wicked people sought to win more than anyone, to own more than other people, to be happier than other people, to be someone special, different than others.

The change came truly slowly. While there weren’t any criminals or villains such as we have in our time now, the seeds of evil were sown and budded.

They increased slowly but surely.

Soon, people came to know of hating, of stealing, of ridicule, of control. The wicked people opposed the World Overseer and sought more prosperity. Then they exterminated the good people, controlled them and spread the seeds of unhappiness.

No good people of the Age of Paradise are now left in our world. All of us are the descendants of wicked people. An evil existence going against God – people who seek what can’t be obtained.”

All of the Armed Librarians were probably thinking: How was this story related to Bantorra Library? And how did it relate to the current situation?

“Ah, hold on for a bit longer and listen.

The world got stained in pain and sorrow by the hands of the wicked people. Crime was created and a policing force was born. Nations were born and began collecting taxes. Conflicts took place and trials were held.

Even so, we have no idea how better it was than our current world. At least people like me hadn’t existed then, as well as those like Kachua or Cigal.

But finally, a certain man was born. A man who openly waved the flag of revolution against the World Overseers and sought to destroy them.

His name was Ruruta Coozancoona. The wickedest person in the world. As well as the possessor of the greatest power in this world.”

Ruruta Coozancoona. She had also mentioned that name before: he was the true Director of Bantorra Library. And he was the one to sentence the Armed Librarians their end.

“He had fought the World Overseer and defeated them. So they disappeared from this world. Not only defeating the Gods, Ruruta Coozancoona also devoured their power and made it his own.

Future Overseer Orntorra had his power stolen by Ruruta and vanished from this world.

Present Overseer Toitorra became an existence that only maintains the laws of the world.

Past Overseer Bantorra lost his power to collect Books. The generated Books were abandoned by their Overseer and started being buried in the ground. This Library lost its master and became ruins.”

Impossible, all the Armed Librarians were probably thinking. This Library was supposed to have been created by Bantorra and keep existing indefinitely…

“After defeating the World Overseers, Ruruta Coozancoona made this Library his own castle. He then unleashed the power he stole from the Gods – the “Beasts of the Final Chapter” in the Labyrinth and made them his guards.

We now call them “Guardian Beasts”. Their real job is not to protect Books; they prevent people from approaching Ruruta who sleeps in the depths of the Library.”

Several Armed Librarians turned around. The Guardian Beasts – no, the Beasts of the Final Chapter were swarming in the staircase leading to the Sealed Labyrinth.

“You all know how strong the Beasts of the Final Chapter are. Yet their power is nothing more than a fragment of Ruruta’s strength.

If Ruruta becomes serious for even a single moment, he would be able to kill each and every last person in the world. As he ruled Bantorra Library, he showed this power to the populace.

Thus no one was able to oppose him. Not only was he the world’s strongest, he also took the power of the Gods.

Thus Ruruta became the ruler of the world. No, perhaps it would be better to say owner. He holds that much power, after all.

Well then, what did the person who owns the world did after this?

Becoming a king and governing the world would be stupid. The owner of the world wouldn’t bother with something like that.

Collecting wealth would also be meaningless. Ruruta already owns everything in the world, after all. He overcame even death. He had nothing to do.

And the thing he wanted in the end…

Was to obtain happiness.

Ruruta told the following to the people of the world. Because everything in the world belonged to him, even the happiness they could feel was his.

He ordered all excavated Books to be brought to him.

He received the happiness embedded in Books as an offering.

The people who obeyed Ruruta worked to dig out the Books buried underground. They worked frantically. After all, if they displeased Ruruta they would have been killed on the spot.

Ruruta’s servants used people to work in the mines. Those who didn’t work were mercilessly whipped and those who opposed were slaughtered. They gathered people with power from the world in order to employ miners.

This was the beginning of the Armed Librarians.

Our true identity is Ruruta’s slaves. The real duty of the Armed Librarians is to bring Books to Heaven.

Yes, we have been deceiving you. For a long, long time.”

She could hear murmurs coming from the Sensory Threads. She couldn’t tell who said it.

“…The Director’s insane.”

Hamyuts removed her face from the device and let a chuckle slip out. Why did everyone respond like that?

Four years ago Yukizona did the same. He listened to Hamyuts’s story while descending the Labyrinth.

Yukizona was thinking: The Director seems to have become crazy. We have to stop our descent and quickly bring her to a hospital.

Someone like Ruruta couldn’t possibly exist. The Armed Librarians couldn’t possibly be slaves offering up Books.

“It has to be a lie, right?”

He could hear Yuri’s small mutter. He couldn’t tell if Hamyuts wasn’t able to hear her or else just ignored her.

The three people reached the Second Sealed Archive in the middle of their talk. Hamyuts put her hand to the door.

“You don’t believe me, huh. I know how you feel.”

She slowly pushed the door.

“But when you see it you’ll believe. Here lies the real Director of Bantorra Library, Ruruta.”

Yukizona saw what lied at the other side of the door.

It was a bizarre tree in the middle of the Archive. Yukizona shook from the overwhelming pressure he felt from it. Yuri snuggled up to his shoulder.

“You don’t have to be so scared. As long as we don’t attack him Ruruta won’t do anything. For now, at least.”

Hamyuts entered the Second Archive. Yukizona also advanced while shielding Yuri.

He just couldn’t believe what she told him now. That terrible sense of intimidation… it wasn’t anything created by the Past Overseer Bantorra. There was no way he would’ve created such a wicked being.

“Do you now believe everything, I wonder?”

He couldn’t answer for a while. He exhaled his cold breath while gazing at the tree.

“This can’t be.”

Yukizona barely was able to speak. The tree starting swaying in front of him.

“Oh, don’t say anything rude. That tree is our boss after all.”

Hamyuts said and grinned.

“Now, shall we continue our talk?”

Hamyuts started talking again. It was the truth that further tormented Yukizona who had believed in the justice of the Armed Librarians.

Hamyuts kept talking through the voice device to the Armed Librarians on the other side.

“Have you ever been told this by a teacher or your mom when you were little? When you lie once, you have to keep lying in order to make it consistent. And you end up needing to make many more lies. Before long you would become unable to make any moves and everything would end up exposed after all. That’s what I was taught.

You’ve listened to your mothers, right?

That’s just like the history of the Armed Librarians.”

Hamyuts’s smile was full of malice.

“Now, let us move to what happened about a hundred years after the Armed Librarians have been established.

There were only the Armed Librarians who kept squeezing out Books and the people of the world who were being killed. This period continued for about a century.

However, Ruruta gradually became less and less satisfied. There were only Books of those who rebelled against the Armed Librarians and those who were massacred by them. All of the Books produced during that time were boring.

The Armed Librarians were also gradually becoming exhausted. Day after day, they had to deal with rebellions and their suppression, decreasing their strength.

Here came the First Acting Director Masrai Carnel. He was a great person who could also be called Bantorra Library’s second founder.

All of the Armed Librarians knew his name. No history book in existence didn’t mention his name.

“Masrai realized there were limits to controlling people by power. Even if you hold down everything by force, that same force will come back at you. The rulers will eventually lose their power and the system will collapse.

But if the people of the world rebelled against Ruruta, any and all of them would be killed.

Masrai reformed the Armed Librarians.

What he did was to “embellish” them.

They needed a pretense to let people rule people. They needed authority. They needed prestige. Deluding the populace into thinking the influential people were great was the best method to rule them.

Masrai’s goal was to make the evil organization of the Armed Librarians be reborn as allies of justice.

He began the reform. First he thoroughly purged all the evil Armed Librarians. It was horrible. Even though they were conducting evil for Ruruta’s sake, now they were being purged for his sake.

Next Masrai gave bread and circus to the populace. He assigned them fair taxes and work. He also created fun festivals and exhibitions. He captured the hearts of the populace in no time.

And then he told the people:

The Armed Librarians are a group of people ordered by the Past God Bantorra, who had left this world, to oversee Books. Until now they were evil, unfairly taking Books away, but I, who received orders from Past God Bantorra, will manage every Book from now on.

Managing Books is in order to protect the world’s peace and people’s death. That is why the populace has the obligation to follow the Armed Librarians.

With these words, the rebellion was perfectly extinguished. The people of the world thought that if these were orders from the great Past Overseer then they had no choice.

What weird creatures humans are. Although nothing has changed with the fact that they were suppressed by force, just by insisting on legitimacy it made them shut up.

And thus the Armed Librarians were reborn from an organization that just collects Books to become allies of justice. It had to be done like that.

Masrai’s reform was a success. Starting from that time the Armed Librarians increased the power of their organization and consequently the world became peaceful because of it.

However, the name of the Director Ruruta became a complete taboo. Since they decided that Past God Bantorra was to be the Director, the name of the real one couldn’t come out.

And so Bantorra Library overcame its first crisis.”

The hair-raising and cruel history lesson continued.

“Three or four hundred years passed since then. Well, a lot’s happened. You can read about it in history textbooks.

Explaining only in general, the Armed Librarians were split into an organization managing Books and an organization that governed the populace. The latter was independent and became the Present Management Agency. Furthermore, from that uniform rule it began to shift into divided governments based on regions. The so-called states were born.”

She left out the history of the Present Agency and the change into countries. It was irrelevant.

“The Armed Librarians have also changed during this period.

They collected Books from the world’s mines, sorted out Books of happiness and offered them to Ruruta. Worthless Books were left in the Labyrinth for the time being so they could lend them to people who wanted to read them when the need arises. No one could pass through the Beasts of the Final Chapter wandering around the Labyrinth except Armed Librarians.

And thus the system was created.

Well, that means that at the time our current system was established.

Oh yeah. From that period the only ones to know of Ruruta’s existence were the Armed Librarian at the top. There should be only few people who know the truth in order to protect the secret, after all.”

And with that the story came to its first stop for now. Hamyuts removed her mouth from the device and decided to take a breather.

When Yukizona finished listening to her story he was also speechless. The history, his duty… everything was a lie. They were practically dancing in their palms until now.

Seeing the stunned Yukizona, Hamyuts sighed.

“Yukizona. I’ve argued with Matt whether to tell you or not. Can you withstand our reality? Mattalast said you’d be fine though.”

“…”

I can’t, he wanted to say. He wanted to immediately drink the water of Argax and forget all about it.

“There’s also old Ireia. We haven’t told her the truth. She’s a proud person and somewhat inflexible. Everyone thought that she wouldn’t be able to bear working as a slave to Ruruta.”

Hamyuts said.

“There’s also the option to not accept. In that case we will erase your memories with the water of Argax. Naturally you will not be able to assume office as the Acting Director, though. But I don’t know how much better doing that will be.”

Yukizona said nothing.

“Brother…”

Yuri also said nothing besides calling to him.

Yukizona suddenly reached for a Book. It was an ancient one, close to being the oldest Book stored in the entire Library.

There was once a certain warrior. His name didn’t matter.

In the ancient society he lived in, people came to fight and pillage his village as a daily occurrence. He fought to protect his village ever since he was young. He became stronger by simply fighting again and again. Even the modern Armed Librarians were probably all a bunch of weaklings when compared to him.

He kept the village peaceful with his powers. In this dark world, only his village was surrounded by smiles.

However, that gave birth to misfortune. It happened one night. The warning bells were rung. The sounds of burning torches and neighing horses came into the village.

He already knew about the presence of Book looters. As well as their repulsive name of “Armed Librarians”.

The several tens of Armed Librarians trampled the village with the loud sounds of hooves.

“Books!”

“Give us your Books!”

The bandits wore inferior, dirty clothing. They had a cruel expression, intoxicated by slaughter. The warrior took out his sword and charged ahead to fight the wicked Armed Librarians.

“Everyone, get your weapons! Get the women and children away!”

While swinging his sword, he called out to the other villagers.

“As if we’d let you!”

One of the Armed Librarians cast Magic to put the villagers to sleep. The warrior barely held on with his mental strength, but everyone else couldn’t resist. The Armed Librarians started crushing the villagers that collapsed along the road.

“You bastards, you bastards!!!”

The warrior shouted as he knocked off the Armed Librarians all by himself. He shouted for the villagers to wake up, but they all passed away while sleeping peacefully.

“Surround him!”

“Shoot arrows from behind!”

He defeated seven or even eight people all by himself, but he was still heavily outnumbered. He was surrounded, stabbed by spears from all directions and collapsed.

Unfortunately, since he was so robust he didn’t die immediately. Even as his blood flowed, he could barely open his eyes and hear things. He witnessed the slaughter of the villagers he was supposed to have protected.

Soon, there were no more any moving people around.

“Is it all over? My dear friends the Armed Librarians.”

A single man appeared. This man, holding a stone dagger in hand, felt different from the others.

“It is over. We leave everything to you, Lascall Othello-dono.”

The man stabbed his blade into the ground. A Book was suddenly created.

Reading it, all of the Armed Librarians starting laughing among themselves.

“What a happy village. They’ve never been hungry or sick.”

“Hahaha, a big catch. With just this Ruruta-sama will be satisfied for a whole year.”

The warrior thought it was devilish. Could humans really do such cruel things to each other? Compared to the Age of Paradise several centuries ago this was hell. It was better not being born into this world.

“I will kill… kill…”

The fallen warrior clenched the earth. Seeing that, a single Armed Librarian spoke.

“I wonder how that guy’s Book is?”

Peeking into his face, another Armed Librarian spoke.

“No, he’s no good. He’s not happy, after all.”

At long last, after hearing these words, he died.