The Caretaker

When I opened my eyes, I found myself inside a relatively small room. Its walls and ceilings have a smooth wooden finish, and the lack of furniture makes it more spacious than what it looks like. There are also no windows, no curtains—and the only light source is a single light stone placed on the table beside this white bed that I was lying down on. I sluggishly got up and checked the condition of my body.

"I must've fainted not long after that fight, huh..."

Exhaustion, hunger, and thirst. The combination of those three will weaken even the most valiant of warriors. It's been only a day since we entered the tower, to be fair, so our condition isn't that bad. If we were to stay trapped inside longer, on the other hand...

When I finally got up, I began slapping my cheeks and doing some light stretches while examining the room even further. As for the location of this room, the color of the walls and decorations means that I'm still inside the tower, but I can't determine which specific part of the tower I am. There's a door opposite of me, but it could be locked.

Well, we can't know for sure unless we try opening it.

Unlike the previous doors I've encountered in this world, this door has a mechanism that requires the person to input the correct passcode for it to unlock, like the ones installed on modern condominiums back in our world. The symbols on the buttons looked unfamiliar at first but with little knowledge of the ancient language that I have, I found out that these symbols are indeed equivalent to numbers 1 through 9, and 0. There's also a screen above the buttons, to show the numbers that are pressed.

I was very surprised. For such a thing to exist here, means that the technology level in this world isn't uniformly centuries behind the world I came from. It's a refreshing feeling to see something so advanced for this world with my own eyes...

"Hm? What's this?"

I glanced on my side, and I saw a small folded piece of white paper stuck between the door and the jamb. I picked it up, and read its contents:

[Greetings. For the person inside this room to have access to the passcode that will unlock the mechanism placed on this door, they must answer correctly at least one of the three questions shown on the magic screen. You only have ONE attempt. Good luck.]

"You're messing with me, right?! There's no way you're not messing with me right now!" I said as I furiously threw the paper into the ground.

Seriously, what kind of a person was the one who brought me here? Are they merely locking someone up just for laughs and giggles?! Hrgh, as I thought I should blow this door up...

Okay, let's calm down for a moment and evaluate the situation.

First—I don't sense any ill will coming from the note. I might be wary of it, but I don't think I'll be in danger anytime soon.

The second—is that this door is tougher than I expected, tougher than most of the things I've touched before. There's also a seal placed on top of the door, probably to nullify magic from being used.

Lastly—unless there's a catch to it, which I can't see right now, the instructions are as straightforward as it gets. I only have to get one question correct, right? That means I have 2 extra lives for me to spare. Bring it, I say!

With all of those in mind, looks like I have no choice but to do it.

To begin, I pressed the red button beside the magic screen, and instantly, the first out of the many instructions appeared before me. The moment I read the instructions, I—

"W-What...what is this?!"

[1. Being the Heir Apparent to the throne, Her Royal Highness the Princess of Narashel gets to receive numerous marriage proposals coming from various nobles in and out of the country. Answer this, O the one who's inside this room—what is the total number of marriage proposals the princess has received as of this moment?]

What? What?! They're giving me this question for real?! Even though Lerish is my friend, I don't think I dare to ask her these kinds of questions much less to suffer the slapping that comes afterward, so how could they!

"Fortunately, there are 4 choices for me to choose. Let's see..."

Though, the moment I looked at the choices, I realized the figures were as outrageous as the question itself. I mean, I'm supposed to choose between 23, 49, 75, and 203! Ain't one of them too many, to begin with?!

Okay, let's try to guess which of these is the real answer. With 203 out of the question, I'm left with three choices. 23 is too few for someone of Lerish's caliber, so it has to be either 49 or 75. Then, assuming that each province of Narashel plus a foreign country sent one or two representatives, the estimated number would be...

"Final answer: 75. I hope I got it right," I muttered as I pressed the number buttons then the green button next to the red one to confirm my answer.

EEEEEEENNNNNGGGGG!!!!! The buzzer instantly rang after I locked in my answer, indicating that it was wrong. Right afterward, the screen showed the correct answer, which left me quite baffled and dismayed of myself.

[203].

L-Lerish...just how popular are you? I'm amazed here, you know...

Well, never mind. I still have 2 more attempts for me to get it right. Next question, please—

[2. Answer this, O the one who's inside this room—what is Her Royal Highness' most preferred season of the year?]

"Another Lerish question?!" my eyes bulged in shock.

What does this room have to do with Lerish? Does this place have a ghost that's obsessed with her? I don't get it.

I answered [Spring] for no reason other than it suits her personality more. I haven't experienced all 4 seasons with her yet, so I have to guess based on my gut feeling.

EEEEEEENNNNNGGGGG!!!!!

"Wrong again?!" I slammed my fist again at the door while the word [Winter] is being displayed on the screen.

This is bad. I only have one question left to answer. If I don't get it right, I might get trapped here forever...

A few seconds later, the screen finally displayed the last question, and it is all about...

[3. Answer this, O the one who's inside this room—what is Her Royal Highness' three sizes?]

"There's no way I can answer that!!!" I yelled as I punched the screen.

Knowing how many suitors Lerish had? Fine. Knowing her favorite season? Also fine with me. But this? This is straight-up harassment! Who the hell created these questions? I want to have a 'discussion' with him...

What's worse, there are no choices this time. I had to enter my answer accordingly, with BWH as the format.

"Forgive me Lerish, for I don't think I'll be able to answer this one correctly," I said as I resigned to my fate and entered my answer.

-----

"I am very relieved now that you are here, Ren! I was afraid you will never get out of your cell anymore..."

When I came out of the room, I was met with Lerish who's been anxious for a few minutes now while waiting for me. She has a piece of long cloth draped over her body like a cloak, so as not to reveal her already beaten-up clothes. She seemed okay now, so I am at ease.

"Y-Yeah. It seems that I got lucky from that last question. Hehehe."

"R-Really? I see..."

When I said that, Lerish's cheeks turned red as she began to act fidgety. Wait, don't tell me you—

"...So that confirms it. The three of us were locked inside a room each and has to answer questions about one of us," the little girl spoke.

"Nn. I got questions about Miss Aoi, so I was worried at first. Fortunately, the second question indirectly referenced you as well, and thus I was able to answer it correctly," Lerish added, feeling happy about the result.

"So, if you got this girl's questions and I got yours, then that means..."

When I glanced at her, the little girl quickly looked away with a 'hmph'. It seems that she's disappointed that the questions she got have something to do with me.

"As I thought, Miss Aoi is knowledgeable when it comes to you, Ren! It did not surprise me at all when she was able to get the first question correctly!"

"... As I said, I was just lucky at that time! It's not that I know everything about this horrendous person!" the little girl protested.

"Horrendous, you say..."

Well, leaving that aside, it seems that I still live in her head rent-free, no matter how much she tries to remove me from her life. I still wonder how grave was the thing I did to make her think that way...

"Leaving that aside—hey, if you're going to keep hiding behind that pillar, I have no choice but to tear that entire thing off, no?"

"Ren? Ehh?!"

"...Someone's watching us?! But how didn't I..."

When I said that, the person hiding behind the pillar not too far away from us slowly revealed themselves to us. The person's a twenty-something-year-old woman about the same height as me, wearing a pure white garment that is very similar to a Roman stola, with a brown sash on her shoulder. She has light grayish bob-cut hair, with the left side of her bangs held by two black hairpins forming an X. Her pretty face has a tranquil expression but her eyes were closed for some reason, which overall made her look like she's sleeping soundly even though she isn't.

"Pardon me for my rudeness, Ren Mortel. I am called Erlai, the caretaker of this tower. It is my pleasure meeting you," the lady bowed her head at us.

So this tower has a caretaker, huh. Perhaps she's the one who made all of those questions earlier...

"I am also pleased to see you, Your Highness the Princess of Narashel. Are you surprised that the fabled tower existed in your country?"

"E-Eh? Um, yes—I never expected that the tower we believed only exists in folk tales existed here in the kingdom."

"And lastly, the Death Goddess. The last time I saw you were about 6000 years ago. I cannot believe how non-existent your body's growth was through the years."

"...Hmph! I don't need your concerns about my appearance!" the little girl harrumphed.

"So you know our names. I wonder how long have you been watching us from the shadows," I asked her, feeling wary of her intentions.

We don't know yet who she is. She's not wearing a mask so she couldn't be like that Tiger Guy, but what if she's a deity, just like this girl beside me, and an enemy at that? Is she even stronger than the ones we fought earlier?

"You are mistaken, Ren Mortel," the lady named Erlai slowly waved her finger at me. "I am not watching you. More specifically, I cannot do that."

When she said that, she slowly opened her eyes. Immediately, horror run through our senses as we saw her eyes—or lack of them thereof. What we're seeing, were two voids where her eyes should have been.

She closed her 'eyes', and continued, "As you can see, I am blind. I do have an exceptional sense of hearing, however, that is why I could easily tell from the vibrations in the air that your fly is open."

"W-Wait, what?!"

"Fufufu, I am just kidding," Erlai joked, but her voice remained monotonous. "Leaving that aside, since the three of you managed to surpass all the obstacles below I will now give you a tour around the tower's apex, a place where no one has ever reached or seen, except for me, of course. Follow me."

-----

As we walked through a long and dark corridor, the three of us kept our gazes at the lady guiding us at the front. It feels weird given our circumstances, but we were like schoolchildren chatting while on a field trip.

'...That Erlai lady, no matter how many times I try, I still can't detect the life force leaking out of her body,' the little girl expressed her dismay in a soft voice.

'There must be something placed on her that could hinder someone from detecting a person's presence, like a magic field?' Lerish inferred.

'...No, there's no magic involved here. I may be bad when it comes to anything that has magic, but that's not what I am sensing from her.'

As the two girls were giving out their guesses, I—

'She's not an organic living being, is what I am thinking of her.'

'...Hmm?!'

Her appearance, her gestures, her facial expressions—Erlai's actions were a bit too stiff and robotic to resemble that of a normal human. Perhaps that's the reason why I wasn't that mesmerized by her beauty when I first saw her.

'At the very least, she might have an organic body, but some of her parts were artificially made...'

"All your assumptions are correct, Ren Mortel," Erlai looked over her shoulder, her eyelids still dropped. "Regardless of my body's composition, it is rude for people to talk behind someone's back. You would not want the same to happen to you, am I not wrong?"

"""Y-Yes,""" the three of us lowered our heads in shame.

"As long as you understand what I am saying, then it is fine," Erlai continued walking forward, not letting that bother her at all. "Hurry up, we are almost at our destination. I have lots of things to show you."

When we reached the end of the corridor, we found a door covered with different locking mechanisms on it. Erlai then placed her hand on top of a panel beside the door and applied magic on it. One by one the door's locks unlocked themselves and vanished, leaving behind an ordinary-looking wooden door.

"You, over there. Open this door," Erlai called the little girl.

"...Huh? Who are you to order me?! I am the Death Goddess, remember?" the little girl fumed in anger.

"Of course, I have not forgotten who you are," Erlai responded. " However, you are not the High Priestess who gave life into this vessel I call my body, nor the Tower God who gave me a reason to continue existing. You are but a goddess who is already past her prime, hence there is no need for me to fear you."

"...W-Wha—"

As much as she wants to refute her words, the truth is just that painful for her. Gritting her teeth, the little girl angrily twisted the doorknob and kicked the door open.

"...Once I regain all of my power, I will make sure this place be completely razed from the—WAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW!!!!!"

At that instant, the three of us were stunned by the scenery in front of us, which by far exceeded everything we've seen so far when it comes to bizarreness.

Inside, we saw a very, very large room, filled with rows and rows of bookshelves about 3 meters high arranged side by side with each other and creating countless aisles running in parallel. The circular walls are also covered with bookshelves up to the domed ceiling. Numerous books are floating and flying around from one bookshelf to another, arranging themselves according to whatever criteria were set upon them. Lastly, we could see from the transparent floor the golden gears of various sizes that are moving fast, as if those were the ones that power this whole facility.

Inside this tower, a megacity of books existed right before our eyes.

"So many...books..."

"This library greatly dwarfs the one found at our palace..."

"As it should be," Erlai said, her lips forming a very faint smile. "To tell you the truth, the tower is not the attraction itself, but rather only a passageway leading to this great library, that covered this entire continent."

What?? This library is as large as this continent?! It must be a huge pain to take care of such a facility, even with the help of magic.

"Here, all the books that were made throughout the entire history of this world are copied page per page then stored here, preserving them for countless millennia more. The Tower God, who was an avid collector of books during his time, created not only the tower but his library which he considered to be his greatest achievement. The High Priestess, who was my creator, also had her share in creating this facility, hence the reason why I am here."

"...Tch, those two, I never knew they were up to something suspicious all this ti—OOOOOOOOWWWW!!!!"

Suddenly, a book came flying straight at the little girl's face, instantly knocking her out. Lerish and I could only gasp and stare wildly as everything happened so fast.

That's...a hardcover, right? That must hurt so much even for a goddess.

"I will never allow you to speak ill of my masters, Death Goddess, so I am asking you to keep your thoughts to yourself," Erlai spoke in a threatening way.

"Are you okay?" I said to the girl, whose vision is still spinning after being hit by a large book on the face.

"...I'm...okay. It didn't hurt me at all, but my dignity...hm?"

She looked at my face, and her eyebrows quickly furrowed.

"...You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not."

"...Lies, I saw you smirk before I got knocked out for a moment!" she yelled at me.

Again? Ugh, when will we end all of this nonsense...

"Well, I'm sorry if I did that unconsciously."

"...Huh?"

"But, no matter how much I hate you, I will never throw a book at your face. As your former brother, that's what I can assure you," I said as I try to help her stand up.

"...Brother...hmph! As if I needed your help!" she said as she slapped my hands.

"My, are those two always like that?" Erlai asked Lerish, who was standing beside her.

"No, Miss Erlai. Something happened, that is why they are at odds with each other."

"That is not good for this library," Erlai muttered. "They better fix their problem, or else I will have to tell them to leave immediately."

"Nn. I hope that they will not reach that point," Lerish replied, her downcast face looking at us anxiously.

-----

Although the library is as large as a continent, as Erlai claimed, one can reach any part of it in no time with the use of the magic platforms on the floor, which acted like a wormhole found in science fiction movies. We stepped into one of those platforms, and after Erlai set up the coordinates on the controller, the entire surroundings instantly changed into that of what seems to be a warehouse.

"...Why did you bring us here?"

"I am bringing that question back to you, Death Goddess. What brought the three of you here? I can easily tell if you were planning to steal something, but that is not it. I am curious as to why you risked your lives just to find and enter this place."

Yeah, that's right. Why are we here in the first place? Aren't we just coerced by that Myriel into finding the tower? Aside from that, is there anything else for us to do now that we're here?

"...Well, that's..."

"Enough of that. Whatever the reason may be, the fact that you are here is more important to me. For that, I am obligated to fulfill my duty and reward all of you."

As she said that, she raised her right hand, and suddenly a jar containing what looks like a black goo came flying and landed on top of her palm. She then gave it to the little girl, and said with a straight face:

"Kill it."

"...Is this...a lesser god inside this jar?!"

"Yes. The library also has a collection of those specimens. That one is among the strongest of those creatures, hence I am certain you will like the feeling once you kill it."

At Erlai's word, the little girl opened the jar and grabbed the black mass with her hands. Then, without hesitation, she crushed it, and a powerful vortex of dark energy came out of the goo, which was absorbed ravenously by her body.

"...Ahh...such sweet, sweet life force. I can feel my divine power rising!"

"I am glad you enjoyed it, Death Goddess," Erlai said. She then looked at me, and a black book flew right into her hand.

"For you, Ren Mortel."

"Um...you're not going to throw that at me, right?"

"No, but I will do it if you are into that."

"Don't be silly," I said as I grabbed the book from her. "Books are meant to be read, not thrown..."

FOOOOOOMMMM!!!!!

"T-This is..."

The moment I touched the book, it instantly combusted into black and blue flames. The mark on my left hand—which was invisible until now—began glowing and giving off a pale blue light, and the asterisk symbol changed into that of a book.

"'My creator has prophesied about your arrival thousands of years ago, Ren Mortel. She had instructed me to give her blessing to you, her Arcana, the moment we meet. I still do not understand why she would entrust such an important thing to a mortal like you so haphazardly, though, but I have to fulfill her wishes," Erlai spoke, her lips faintly forming a frown.

Well, even I would feel the same way too if our positions were reversed. I completely understand where she's coming from.

"You received an Arcana from Miss Erlai, Ren! That would make four in total, correct?" Lerish said, feeling overjoyed.

"Y-Yeah."

Erlai cleared her throat, and spoke, "And last but not the least, the Princess. This time, I will ask you to raise your hand for your reward."

"Like this...?"

In the blink of an eye, something flew into her hand. It is a compass made up of greenish, copper-like material. However, at the same time—

"KYAAAAAAAAAAA?!!!"

The compass, which is supposed to be Lerish's reward, burst into green flames that covered her entire hand. Panicking, Lerish tried to put it out, but the flames disappeared shortly afterward along with the object, without leaving any damage to Lerish.

"M-Miss Erlai? What is the meaning of this?!"

Calmly, Erlai approached her and spoke.

"Lerish Relia Narashel—by the power given to me by my masters—I declare you now the rightful holder of the [Tower] Arcana."