Searching the Library
* * *
Extra-sama and I were carrying the unconscious Karashia as we proceeded down the unnecessarily long hallway.
At one corner, there was a small door… According to the plate attached, it seed to be a library… In any case, we found this room.
While knocking Karashia unconscious was unintended, this worked in our favor.
Our goal was to prevent Karashia from dying, after all.
We’ll have her rest in this library for now.
Still, to think she fainted just from a slight leak of my murderous aura…
Kii…
I slowly and carefully opened the door to avoid making noise.
The inside was indeed just an ordinary library, nothing out of the ordinary.
The shelves were packed with so kind of ledgers, with wooden boxes placed on the floor.
For now, I laid Karashia down on the floor and flipped through one of the ledgers.
While the contents used technical terminology and detailed numbers… it seed to be a record of “Makaringis Ore” yields.
Incidentally, I’ll ntion this in case it cos up – I am literate.
Extra-sama taught to read and write from a young age.
Hn?
You know about it, Extra-sama?
I see.
For now, I returned the ledger I had picked up to the shelf.
Then I noticed sothing when looking at the spine labels.
These ledgers seed compiled annually, with what looked like year information written on the spine labels!
Examining what appeared to be the newest ledger, it was inscribed with “Chiltonia Year 4720.”
Eh- um, Chiltonia Year…?
Hah?
You an that shitty tragedy has been repeating for 300 years…?
I instinctively broke out in goosebumps.
…It was at that mont Extra-sama seed to enter deduction mode over so realization when:
“Nn… Nnn…?”
“!!!”
A slight rustling sound ca from behind , followed by a faint voice.
Karashia had woken up.
“…Eh…? Kyaa…!!”
Turning around, my eyes t Karashia’s as she slowly sat up.
Upon seeing , her face paled as she let out a small scream, then…
“A monster! A monster, a monster! Stay away! Stay awaaay!!!”
She started shouting as she freaked out!
“No, not a monster, not.”
“Stay back! Stay back, you filthy monster! Soone, soone help ee—!!!”
I tried approaching to calm her down, but it backfired.
Karashia grabbed whatever was nearby like ledgers and flung them at one after another.
Gon.
One of the books struck my forehead, making a dull sound.
These ledgers were heavier than I expected for re stacks of paper.
The cover was made of rigid leather.
In other words, getting hit by one would hurt.
For an ordinary person, the impact area would likely bruise or bleed a little.
…I felt a slight irritation.
Inadvertently, I let out another small leak of murderous aura.
“Hyan!”
Karashia let out a strange sound, her eyes rolling back as she foad at the mouth and collapsed again.
……………………
Reallyyy–!?
What is wrong with this person!?
To faint from just that slight irritation, isn’t she too frail!?
We can’t even communicate!?
In any case, I hastily pricked up my ears to check, but it didn’t seem like anyone was approaching this room after that commotion.
The noise seed to have gone unnoticed.
How should I know sothing like that…?
Ah-, and she made such a ss too…
Scattered around my feet were the ledgers Karashia had flung at .
I picked one up, intending to return it to the shelves, when my gaze shifted and…
Extra-sama seed to notice sothing.
Ah, you’re right.
Since the shelves were originally packed tightly with ledgers, I didn’t notice, but… there’s a gap between this bookshelf and the wall, with sothing stuck inside.
Taking a closer look, that “sothing” was peeking out from the edge of the bookshelf, giving more the impression of being carelessly stuffed into the gap rather than intentionally hidden.
So then, this “sothing”…
When I pulled it out, it was an oil painting taller than my height.
Depicted there was the bust portrait of a beautiful woman with pale purple hair.
While clearly a woman, she wore a sharp-angled jacket more suited for a man, smirking defiantly.
The portrait gave an impression of supre self-confidence and arrogance.
What is this?
And it’s quite large and splendid too.
The fra’s decorations are quite gaudy as well.
I wonder why such a painting was stuffed behind the bookshelves in this library?
The ledgers lined up on the shelves and wooden boxes on the floor were kept fairly organized in here.
Yet this painting alone seed carelessly stuffed away, sticking out awkwardly.
…………
…Hmm, I don’t get it!
No matter how much I think about it, I can’t figure it out!
I crossed my arms, furrowed my brow, closed my eyes and humd in thought, but no answers to my doubts ca to mind.
Trying to talk just makes them faint, though.
I never expected my poor communication skills to beco such an obstacle here!
That’s true!
I’ll shelve these difficult musings for later!
What I need to do now is guard Karashia.
If preventing her death allows us to escape the loop, then I just need to protect her and ensure her life isn’t endangered.
Simple and easy to understand!
Though at this point, I feel like I’m the biggest threat to her ntal state!
Wrapping up the ntal discussion with Extra-sama, our course of action was set.
All that remained was to act accordingly.
I opened my eyes that had been squeezed shut.
…Then what entered my field of view was a manor with an outwardly “strange” appearance.
First, the roof was bright red. Bright crimson red. Additionally, the window fras and other key areas were also painted red.
The walls were coated yellow, with red polka dot patterns drawn here and there.
With only pure white snow piled up around it, its outward appearance stood out bizarrely.
“…Huh…?”
A reflexive voice escaped .
Looking around in bewildernt.
This wasn’t the library anymore.
It was outside the manor.
Karashia’s body that should have been lying unconscious nearby was nowhere to be seen.
…This is…
If Karashia doesn’t die, the loop doesn’t occur.
It seems that hypothesis was mistaken.
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