Is This the Library?
The Westland parent and child took their leave.
"Raphael, I want you to take the lead on this project."
"Father, are you pushing work onto me again?"
"No, that's not it. It's also to protect young Reinhardt. We've become heavily indebted to the Westland family."
"What do you mean?"
At this rate, he'll stand out too much. If Raphael leads this project and makes it a success, the attention on Reinhardt will decrease somewhat.
It may not be a proper thank-you, but it seems the Westlands want to keep Reinhardt hidden as much as possible. Though he moves around freely and keeps generating profits, so they can't quite conceal him.
To avoid being indebted to a friend, you should spread the story that *you* discovered this project, and that you're working with the beastkin to see if the plants will grow under the blessing of their plant deity. That way, you fool the public and gain the power to help young Reinhardt.
My clever son should understand with that much.
If we've been presented with a new business with the potential to generate such immense profits, it’s best to refrain from digging into his blessings. It's unfortunate, but unavoidable.
That said, since I promised to help him search for books for the Sage God, he can use our library. It should be fine to have the librarian check what books he's reading.
—
The next day, while Father and Brother Chris discussed the project details with His Grace and Raphael, I was shown to the Duke's library.
Really, that's nobility for you. They manage to sneak their ambitions in so naturally.
Well, I’m interested in the Duke’s library too, so I don’t mind...
The Duke's library—or rather, it wasn’t a *library*, it was a *library building*.
A whole building dedicated to books...?
According to the attendant who guided me, their family had been fond of books for generations, and as their collection grew, they eventually needed an entire building just for a library.
He said there’s a librarian inside, so I should ask them if I have any questions. He added that he'd return before lunch, then went back to the main residence.
Once inside, the librarian was waiting and gave me a rundown of the library.
You’re supposed to write your name and the time you entered at the reception desk, and record the time you leave when you exit. If you want to take books out, that also needs to be registered.
Apparently, employees of the Duke’s household can freely come and go, reading books during breaks or returning borrowed ones, so there's a decent amount of traffic.
Since I was an invited guest, I was shown to a private room to read in.
The room was bright and sunny. By the window there was a single-seater sofa and a desk, a study desk against the wall, and in the center, a sofa you could stretch out on, along with a round table just the right size for placing books or teacups.
It looked as comfortable as my favorite greenhouse.
The librarian asked if I had any particular genres I was interested in and offered to guide me to the shelves, but I said I wanted to browse freely for now.
They told me food and drink were prohibited inside the library itself, but tea was allowed in the private room. If I wanted some, I just had to ask one of the librarians—the ones wearing blue armbands. Then the librarian left me alone.
The library covered an impressively wide range of genres.
There was even a whole section dedicated to foreign books. Many of them focused on the history, art, and architecture of nations neighboring the Kingdom of Aranfes.
I picked one up and found that I could read it.
And for some reason, it was in Japanese.
I tried picking up a few more. They were supposed to be in various languages, yet they were all in Japanese.
Could this be thanks to the blessing?
I wanted to read them, but this place felt a little dangerous.
If His Grace saw me reading, or worse, someone reported it… I had a bad feeling it wouldn’t just end with a casual question.
So I stopped myself.
Among the more unique books were those analyzing dungeon characteristics across regions, the distribution of magical beasts in this country, and books on local cuisine and specialties—things you’d expect the Duke’s household to keep handy.
There were also many books on magic—of all attributes.
I took two intermediate-level books on water magic and healing magic, and three books related to holy maidens, and brought them back to the room.
Read books should not be returned to the shelves by the reader, but handed over at the reception desk. They said it becomes a hassle to find them later if they’re put back in the wrong place.
Once again, I finished all five in about an hour.
The Library Blessing—does that mean it applies not only to the Royal Capital’s library, but to any library?
They call this a “library,” but it’s really the scale of a public library.
The Westland library only let me read a little faster.
Curious, I said “Status Open” and brought up the tablet.
I pressed the help button and typed in “Library Blessing conditions,” and it gave me an answer.
① The library must contain at least 10,000 books
② Reading speed is increased for books in any library
③ Books from the Royal Capital Library can be transcribed and read anywhere
④ Any language in the library can be understood
⑤ With each rank increase from Rank D onward, you can add one more library from which to request transcriptions of books you’ve visited before
Wait a second—when did it rank up to E?
There was no “Your rank has increased” message in my head.
So the perk of E Rank is number ④, huh. And ⑤ is the perk unlocked at Rank D.
Didn’t the Sage God say he wouldn’t tell me about rank-up perks in advance because it’d be boring if I knew?
What do you think about this chapter?
