by Yuu Kamiya
“Wh-what the hell…?!”
—Amazing! Laputa really does exist! The line replayed involuntarily in Sora’s mind. It did look longer horizontally than in that anime, but, however you looked at it, an enormous island was floating in the sky.
—Come to think of it. He remembered seeing an island floating in the sky, from up there, when he first came to this world.
…Oh, so apparently this was a familiar sight in this world. The only ones who were surprised were Sora and Shiro; the other people walking the street didn’t even seem interested.
“…This world has so much everything, it’s ridiculous… At this rate, that ‘too-soon’ thing will…”
As Sora and Shiro gaped up, thinking, Steph seemed to finally realize.
“—Oh, it’s your first time seeing it, Sora?”
And she followed their gaze up.
“That’s Avant Heim—a Phantasma.”
Now that she mentioned it, if you looked closely, the island, which had looked like just a rock bed, actually had barely-there fins. It looked…like a giant whale—kind of…probably…if you looked at it a certain way. A question popped out of Sora’s mouth.
“—Don’t you have rights to light or rights of airspace in this—Wait, ‘Phantasma’?”
“Yes. It is a single entity of the race at Ixseed Rank Two.”
—Ixseed. The “sixteen seeds” of intelligent life to which the Ten Covenants set by the God applied. Still, pointing to the heavens, no, to “Laputa,” Sora howled.
“You’re saying that’s an intelligent living being?! How are we supposed to play—I mean, can we even communicate with that thing?! If it weren’t ‘Laputa exists,’ but ‘Laputa talks,’ even Pa*u would have just looked at the old geezer with eyes of pity!!”
“…I didn’t really get that last part, but, yes, it’s impossible.”
Steph spoke decisively.
“Even the Flügel who live on top of it are far beyond Immanity’s ability to defeat.”
“Flügel—O-ohh, ‘Avant Heim’… It was that thing.”
Watching Laputa Mark Two. The Phantasma “Avant Heim” pass by. Sora recalled that which had escaped him in his shock: The description he had previously read in a book.
—Ixseed Rank Six: Flügel. The winged vanguard created by the gods, to kill other gods, in the ancient Great War. A war race. Since the Ten Covenants, their combat abilities had been effectively sealed off. Still, they possessed virtually eternal life spans and high magical aptitude, with a literal city of the heavens as their single territory. Thus, they did not participate in “play for dominion,” that is, gambling over borders, but they did have a powerful thirst for knowledge, so many individuals personally engaged in games in order to obtain knowledge from the world’s other races: that is, to collect books. For Immanity, which did not have much to bet. They were one of the few races they could draw in, with Sora and Shiro’s knowledge of another world. And they were the first race that had grabbed Sora’s attention since coming to this world.
—But, having said that.
“…I’m sure it would be a great idea to get the Flügel on our side, but there’s no way we can contact them, is there?”
To get in the empire, owning the animal ears—ahem. To obtain the information necessary to compete with other countries—in other words, they absolutely needed the knowledge of the Flügel. But, in this world, Immanity did not have the technology to fly. They had no means of getting onto Avant Heim, nor any means of contacting them. Even so, there was no way they could make their knowledge of another world public in order to fly there. It was too soon to reveal Elkia—Sora and Shiro’s sole trump card. While Sora ruminated and muttered thus, Steph responded, “Huh? If you have some business with the Flügel, there’s one nearby?”
…….
“What did you say?”
“There’s one, she’s, uh…kind of sitting…”
No, wait, wait, Sora shouted.
“We dug through all the libraries in the castle and the country and we didn’t read anything like that?!”
“You probably didn’t; in fact, she’s the very one who tore all the most important books from Elkia.”
—Sora, with a slight bout of dizziness, but supported by his sister, eyes half closed as she probably felt the same way, barely managed to stand his ground and urge Steph on. “D-details, give me details.”
“Well… Five years ago, a Flügel appeared at the greatest library in the country, the Elkia Grand National Library, and made off with the entire collection…you see.”
—Indeeed! No wooonder Elkia had no information to speak of!
“You noobs bet your intel? Are you even sane?! That’s your only goddamn weapon, you know!!”
Without intel—i.e., information—they couldn’t compete with other countries. To bet that, if you put it in terms of combat, was like throwing both your sword and your shield. Or, to put it in generous terms, fail. Accosted by Sora’s shout, as even passersby stopped in shock, Steph stammered.
“I-i-it was my grandfather who bet them—h-he must h-have had some deep…”
But, heedless, Sora pressed her. “What did he demand in return?!”
“U-uhh, uh, I-I hear he said that if he won that Flügel would have to j-j-join him!”
—Hmm, so he was trying to get someone with knowledge exceeding humans’ on his side. That was, in fact, exactly what Sora was trying to do; it was not a bad condition. It wasn’t at all. What was bad was—
“And then he lost and let our knowledge be taken awaaaay?!”
Scratching at his scalp and tearing at his hair, Sora pointed to Steph and yelled.
“How the hell do you let them make off with everything!! Didn’t you make copies?!”
“W-well, it’s…a budget problem…”
“Budget?! What’s budget got to do—!!”
To the uncomprehending Sora, the panty-hatted Shiro murmured:
“…Brother… Elkia… Book, technology…and lit-eracy…”
“—Oh, huh, I-I see.”
As someone who had lived in modern Japan, it was hard to believe. But literacy in fifteenth-century Europe was said to have barely touched 10 percent. They knew from the data that Elkia appeared to be roughly equivalent. Considering that without mass production technology for paper, making copies would, in fact, incur an enormous—.
“…Steph, later I’m going to give you a memo translated into Immanity, so get on it with the top priority.”
“Uh, yes, sir… What kind of memo?”
“Drawings for ‘paper manufacturing’ and ‘letterpress printing’…”
But this was criticized sulkily by Shiro, eyes half open, panties on head.
“…Brother… Cheating, again.”
“Sorry, Shiro, but this is just ridiculous.”
As Sora input a new task on his phone, he let out a looong sigh. Well, then, Steph, with her whole personal library. Was in fact quite the well-educated one after all…but. In this world, where games decided everything—
“If you can’t even read and write, how are you going to game? Are humans even trying?”
“You’re the ones who are weird, knowing six or eighteen languages!”
“Don’t joke around! If you’re gonna play games with other countries, six languages is the bare minimum!”
Hff…hff… Having pretty much finished what he wanted to say, Sora.
“—Uh, okay, whatever. Steph.”
“Y-yes?”
“As I understand from the literature, traditionally, there’s only one game that Flügel play, right?”
Indeed, as far as Flügel was concerned—the game had been leaked. Therefore, Sora asked purely for confirmation, and Steph nodded.
“In that case, the next task has finally been confirmed.”
Sliding his finger, he input it—into his scheduler.
“It’s our time to strike; if we go now, we should be able to get back by night. Steph, get us a carriage.”
“Uh, huh?”
With that, Sora double-checked the task he’d input on his phone.
—Get Immanity’s knowledge back.
“…Hm, I think this is doable, too; let’s add it.”
With that, Sora input further.
“Uh, Get a Flügel…yeah, like that.”
—Though mere moments ago. Steph had called them invincible. Rank Six—the race of god slayers. Sora, having all-too-casually pronounced that he would “get” one, turned his indifferent back for Steph to watch in a daze, held Shiro’s hand, and walked on.
CHAPTER 2
INTERESTING
After about an hour rocking in the carriage. A bit beyond downtown Elkia, in the suburbs, after passing what appeared to be an educational campus with a dormitory. There was the Elkia Grand National Library. As Sora got out of the carriage and looked up, just one word escaped his lips.
“…Huge…”
The first thing it recalled was the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. That was the largest library in Sora and Shiro’s old world, boasting a collection of a hundred million books, but the outer appearance of this one held its own. It was graceful, glamorous, so as to rival the Elkia Royal Castle. Such a wondrous library that it made one want to reconsider one’s evaluation of Immanity in this world a bit. A wondrous library—and yet.
“…You just let this…be taken away…”
“Nm-mghh…”
The observation of Shiro, with panties on her head. Caused to droop wordlessly the head of Steph (dog, no panties).
“M-more important! I have a question!”
With a tone of frenzy as if wanting to at least stick it to them somehow, Steph.
“Yes, Miss Stephanie, what is it?”
“Didn’t you just say we shouldn’t be fighting some race we hardly know anything about? Is it really okay to take on monsters like the Flügel like this without a plan?!”
…Could this seem a reasonable question? But let’s say it anyway. What a Steph.
“…It’s fine.”
“—Huh? Wh-why?”
“Look… Winning at shiritori has nothing to do with how much you know.”
“Huh?”
“Forget it; just get a move on.”
Opening the giant door and entering the library. There was a space full of shelves, not only on the walls, but even on the ceilings, defying gravity. The shelves towered probably tens of meters among countless faint lights floating in the air. It was a fantastic space, building these elements into something like a labyrinth.
“Whoa…sorry, I gotta apologize a bit. Humans in this world do got skills.”
“…Yeah…”
Sora was feeling dizzy just imagining the number of books housed here. Even Shiro was moved. It was no mean feat to collect this many books. Even in their old world, there could hardly have been a library with a collection this size. But Steph, apologetically—
“Uh… I’m sorry to tell you, but these weren’t collected by Elkia.”
“…Excuse me?”
“They were built up to this level after it was taken, I believe. I mean…when I came here when I was a student, there weren’t even a hundredth this many shelves.”
“…What a waste to have thought better of you even for a second.”
—But, then, when you thought about it, it was obvious. There was no way Immanity could put shelves on ceilings defying gravity.
“Hff… So, where’s our blessed angel?”
Walking through the library of neatly lined books, suddenly, there was a shaft of light. Eyes tracing the light toward its source—froze.
—It was an “angel.” With an overwhelming presence one hesitated even to look into directly. A halo curving through a geometric pattern above her head. And faintly glowing wings, too small to hold a person aloft aerodynamically, sprouting from her hips: a girl. Her long, flowing hair swaying even indoors without wind—. Each time, the light would be reflected as if it were a prism, giving the appearance of a rainbow. When, thinly—her eyes opened and made contact. Sora was struck, for the first time since landing in this world, with the feeling of death. Filling her gaze—as if having mass, a murderous intent. Convincing him that this girl, this divine beauty, could end his life with a fleeting touch. Told him that, though he might run, though he might beg for his life, all such things would be meaningless. (This is a Flügel? This is—Rank Six?)
—Created by the gods to annihilate gods—to decimate and destroy, a weapon. While Sora felt that this must be what it felt like to have a machine gun pointed at you. Even Shiro, usually lacking in emotion, shrank and grabbed Sora’s arm. Steph, for her part, was sitting on the ground, clacking her teeth, barely holding back from crying.
That awe-inspiring thing alit. On a bookcase near them, without a sound, without the sensation of weight.
“……”
Heedless of their speechlessness. The angel—the Flügel girl. Opened languidly her amber eyes—and said:
“Sumimasen? What brings you hito to watashi no toshokan?”
—…At that one utterance.
“Ano… You just ruined it…”
With a glance at Steph, unconscious beside them, the enervated Sora just managed to say it…
“Um, uhh, why don’t we begin with introductions. I’m—” said Sora, getting himself back together and trying to get his rhythm back, taking the initiative.
—But.
“You are Elkia’s atarashii king and queen, Sora-sama and Shiro-sama, ne?”
The Flügel girl stole his thunder.
“…Well, then, that speeds things up.”
“I like to read Immanity’s shinbun. Congra—I mean, omedetou on your coronation.”
“…She corrected herself…”
While Shiro snarked thus (with panties on her head), she still held tight to Sora’s arm.
—One might remember that in this world, violence was meaningless, but still. The psychology was probably like how, even if you were told it had been drugged to sleep, you still wouldn’t want to get close to a tiger. But Sora was seemingly exempt from this phenomenon.
“Hey, actually, there’s this celebrity we know who talks just like that, so, if that’s not how you normally talk, could you knock it off?”
Sora’s remark seemed to be deeply shocking to her. What…said the shoulders of the Flügel girl as they dropped in disappointment.
“It was my edgy, unique personal language; someone beat me to it…”
But swiftly her expression changed back.
“With that, m’dears, what brings yeh here today?”
“…Uh, that was how you normally talk before that, right? Why are you talking like someone from Kyoto now?”
“I’ve never heard of Kyoto, but thess is the ancient tongue of the former territory of Immanity; tickles it nut your fancy?”
“All right, we’re never going to get anywhere if we have to keep playing straight man here.”
“Mngh, I hardly ever get any visitors; and I was so excited to have a chance to display my knowledge.”
In the Flügel girl drooping in dissatisfaction, with a hint of tears. No longer could be found a trace of the dignity she’d had so recently.
“So, uh, anyway, just talk normally. Okay?”
“g07 17, d00d.”
“Yeah, we’re outta here.” As Sora turned away, the Flügel girl grabbed his pants and spoke amidst tears.
“Oh! I’m sorry; I do truly apologize! I rarely get visitors; please don’t leave so soon; I’ll make tea; I’ll bring sweeets!”
In a corner of the artlike library, woven of mystic light and bookshelves. Around the table, upon which tea and sweets had indeed been provided, Sora and Shiro, and the Flügel girl. Since Steph still hadn’t come to, they’d ended up rolling her on the floor nearby. And, now, with a formal clearing of the throat: ahem.
“—Well, then, rulers of Immanity, for what purpose do you seek me, wielder not only of the Flügel tongue, b
ut moreover of every tongue of the Ixseeds, as well as over seven hundred languages including tongues of other worlds and ancient times, to say nothing of the appurtenant background information?”
“……Ah, yeah. Let’s see.”
Sora decided he might as well give up, and got started.
“I’ll get straight to the point. Give us this library.”
…
—A moment of silence. At Sora’s words, the girl, lifting her teacup.
“Could you mean that I am being challenged to a game by a mere human?”
“Yes, exactly.”
Then, warm eyes that truly made one think of a goddess.
“Is that so… However, this library is filled to the brim with books that I have collected. Considering that, to us Flügel, who prize knowledge above all else, these books, the repository of my knowledge, and by extension these stacks that hold them can fairly be said to be equivalent in value to my life itself—”
—Her eyes slightly narrowed.
“You propose that I wager my very life; and what do you wager in return?”
With these words, she filled her mouth with tea, and she beheld Sora keenly. With a fleeting swell of murder. That brought a thin sound from the thought-to-be-unconscious Steph: Eep.
—But, remembering the Ten Covenants, not to mention the conversation they’d just had…Sora seemed already free of concern as he spoke.
“Books from another worldover forty thousand volumes in total.”
“Pthhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhbt?!”
The girl spluttered her tea all over the place, again destroying the gravitas she’d gone so far to build up.
“D-do excuse me…l-letting you see me in such an undignified state.”
“…Gross…”
While Shiro protested, covered in tea, still Sora gave the thumbs-up.
“No problem. In our line of work, this is a reward.”
And answered with a very good smile.
“I-I mean, f-forty thousand… You and your jokes, wh-where could you possibly store—”