Fairy Tale Chronicles

Volume 5 Chapter 2.2

Translator: Reflet

Now, of course this complaint of Hiroshi’s was a little spoiled. Sandwiches were one thing, but yakisoba bread couldn’t even exist in a world where there was no such thing as yakisoba. In the first place, before the store even tried to stock up on things like that, they should start out with portable food suited for fieldwork like crackers or jerky.

However, if that common view were to be the norm here, then there would have never been all these silly cultural invasions all over the place.

「If I’m gonna meddle in this, I gotta git permission from the top ‘n then verify the stock route.」

This was clearly not one of the things that the headmaster wanted reformed, and Hiroshi had just decided to meddle in it.

「Ya can’t just say “oh all ya need is to study” and overlook this kinda blunder with the school store. No wonder this academy ain’t got no progress in its research. Reform’s necessary.」

Hiroshi reaffirmed some kind of determination as he chewed on this rare, bad quality rye bread. This sort of thing did happen every time, but the starting point was always the same.

「So it turns out that the personal library archives open to the public weren’t too different from what’s in Wulls Castle……」

As Hiroshi and friends were exploring the campus facilities and setting their hearts on working vigorously toward unnecessary reforms, Tatsuya at last hardened his resolve to step into the special section of the archives.

Unlike the public archives, the special archives required a written agreement in order to enter. Both required a fee, but thanks to the free pass that the Lorren king had provided, Tatsuya was exempt from this.

「But really? A written agreement for entering this section? I have a seriously bad feeling.」

「Indeed. Without a really good reason, we cannot recommend that those without librarian qualifications enter alone.」

Tatsuya muttered as he looked over the formalities for entering the special section, and a young woman approached him. She appeared to be somewhere between her late teens and early twenties. The librarian’s uniform she wore went quite well with her slender but explicit body and quiet, intelligent beauty. In a sense, she might be perfect with glasses on, but unfortunately she seemed to have good, unaided vision as she moved about. Her long, dark hair had blue tinges that were tied simply around her back, but that in itself looked great on her too, so no issues there.

「You are Kazuki Tatsuya-sama, yes?」

「Yeah, I am, but who are you?」

「I do apologize for not introducing myself sooner. I am Daljan-sama’s priestess, Librarian Sasha. I look forward to working with you, sir.」

「Ohhh, so you’re the priestess here. Nice to meet you too.」

「Well, if I had to say which profession is my main one, it would be the librarian position.」

Tatsuya found what Sasha said in her introduction to make a lot of sense, with the god of knowledge’s priestess being a librarian and all. Also, Sasha had the perfect image of what the god of knowledge’s priestess would look like.

「So I take it that you being here means I don’t have to enter the archives, since you can answer all my questions, right?」

「No. Although I am indeed the priestess and spokesperson for Daljan, this does not mean I can get an answer to simply anything. Also, Daljan-sama can generally only discuss whatever Alfemina-sama has requested.」

「In other words, if we want to know about Fairy Tale Chronicles and the Guests of the Unknown Continent, we must investigate it ourselves.」

「That would be the case, yes.」

Apparently, the world was not so kind to let them off easy. While Tatsuya did feel this way, he also recognized that their group had yet to contribute anything to Daljan. The other gods up to this point had also worked many things in their favor in exchange for tribute.

Now that the gods themselves had stated definitively that they were stage settings, there was no way that Daljan would be any different.

「In that case, I guess I’ll finish these procedures and get to searching. As a reference, what should I do in order to enter the forbidden section?」

「You will need Daljan-sama’s permission. I have been entrusted with assisting everyone in going inside there, but I definitely cannot give you permission by yourself, Tatsuya-sama.」

「I can’t go in by myself? Is there a reason?」

「Once you enter the special section, I believe you will notice why.」

「I see, got it.」

Nodding at Sasha, Tatsuya signed this contract with all the dangerous-sounding terms on it, presenting it to her.

「So which way is the special section?」

「Over here. What will you be looking into?」

「Let’s see…to start off, I want to look into whatever I can find in the special archives regarding documents on Dark God Templar and the incidents they were behind, in the meantime.」

「Received……Search complete, connected. I will guide you through the area, so please step over to this transportation circle.」

「Alright.」

Sasha motioned to the circle, and Tatsuya stepped into it. In an instant, he was moved in front of a different door.

「Anything past this point will require that you are fully prepared. Are you ready?」

「……Yeah.」

「Technically, you are able to use a transportation stone once you go in, but you can only go back to this point. Keep that in mind before you go.」

「Got it.」

Listening to Sasha’s warning, Tatsuya somewhat braced himself and opened the door. Beyond it was a space of bookshelves continuing to the horizon.

「……Yep, I see why you need a contract for this.」

「It seems that I now have your understanding, so we shall continue this way.」

As he felt a type of dizziness from the large space in this room bound to make anyone get lost and the sheer, terrifying volume of all the books and shelves, Tatsuya followed Sasha as his guide and began rummaging through materials. Wandering aimlessly alongside Sasha, Tatsuya finally began to understand why a contract was needed, but he still kept going, thoroughly regretting having come there alone.

「So that’s how it is mate.」

「It’s the same for you, huh.」

「And since it’s the same for you, then the school food’s also that way?」

「Yep. I honestly felt like murdering someone.」

Soon after returning to Rufeus Workshop, Hiroshi and Haruna began discussing the first orders of business. Tatsuya and Makoto made exasperated faces when they heard this. No matter how much they tried to justify it, this just seemed like a sudden detour.

Meanwhile, Mio was currently at Wulls Workshop, teaching various things to to a fox beastman, the long-awaited newbie that Layotte had brought over. The second person and onward appeared to all be struggling with the screening process, with the king, Darl’s queen, and the Forre king at a loss as they continued the interviews.

Once the workshop’s employees were decided, they had to get right to gathering employees for the instant ramen factory, which was beginning its construction, so they grumbled about having to busy themselves with securing human resources for the time being.