VWMC Chapter 136

“I don’t really understand anymore, so could you please explain everything in detail from start to finish?”

As Ursh had instructed, I began to tell him everything I could remember, from the time we were waiting for Barbara and Miriana and Marieta to return at the main gate.

As I was talking, I remembered how I had come up with the identity of the “Faceless Monster” during my conversation with Miriana, and how I had checked the answer to that question, but if I brought that up here, the conversation would derail, so I decided to leave it aside. That’s not the main focus right now.

If I summarize the main points, it might be a problem if what I leave out turns out to be important information, so I just keep talking about everything exactly as I remember it.

Ursch-kun listened to my long, rambling explanation without interrupting me, and seriously, taking notes from time to time. Even I would have found it tiring to listen to such a long story, but Ursch-kun listened carefully to the end. I really like him.

After listening to the end of the story, Ursch-kun put his hands to his chin and mouth, hmm… he thought for a while,

“We have absolutely no clues about this ‘chairman,’ so let’s leave him there. But maybe the song Isabella heard at the fountain is the correct one…”

He said, flicking through Marieta’s notes again.

“That’s what you were trying to say earlier, Ursch-kun. I understand that the Forbidden Library that Marieta knows is different from the one I went to, but how does that relate to the lyrics of the song?”

“Isabella… what do you imagine when you hear the words Forbidden Library?”

“Oh, the image of a forbidden library? Hmm. I get the impression that it’s filled with important books that are forbidden to be taken out, and only those with permission or those involved can enter.”

I tried to think again about what the ‘Forbidden Library’ was, but I could only come up with a vague idea, so I answered as it was, and Ursch-kun asked more questions.

“By the way, Isabella, what kind of important books do you think would be stored in the forbidden library and shouldn’t be taken out?”

“I wonder… Could it be dangerous prohibited magic, or forbidden arts, or… could it be that the book itself is cursed, or has some kind of power, or is something that would be troublesome if it were to spread or become known to the world?”

Since it’s called the Forbidden Library, it probably contains books that have been recognized as forbidden. If books are forbidden in a fantasy world, I would expect that there would be many books that contain information about forbidden techniques.

“You think so, don’t you? But the books Isabella read in that forbidden library… was there really such a book? It was all documents, papers, biographies, and history books.”

“…Now that you mention it, that’s true. There were no books with contents that I felt were dangerous. I don’t think there were any books that I read that would have a reason to be banned.”

Even if we assume that there were no dangerous books among the ones I happened to look at, at least the books I looked at did not seem to have any problems that would warrant them being banned.

While I was racking my brains, Ursch-kun nodded and continued.

“The name also makes me curious, ‘True Forbidden Library’. At first I thought it might be because there are multiple Forbidden Library, but even if there are multiple, a Forbidden Library is a Forbidden Library, so I don’t think there is any truth or falsehood. There might be a dummy room though.”

When I hear that, I start to think about what “true” means.

Is it directed at the Forbidden Library itself, or at the books contained within it?

What I read in the True Forbidden Library were documents and history books whose reasons for being forbidden were completely unclear.

There, I learned what Ursch-kun had meant: the song I had heard at the fountain leading to the True Forbidden Library was the correct one.

Ursch-kun, realizing what I had thought by my expression, spoke.

“What Isabella said earlier, ‘a book that would be problematic if it were to be spread or released to the world’, I think that’s right. But I don’t think the reason is that it’s dangerous, but rather that it contains an inconvenient truth for someone or something. That’s what I thought.”

“Who or what is this inconvenience?”

“Well, I don’t know about that, but I think there are a lot of records in the world that have been altered or erased because it was inconvenient for the powerful people, organizations, or countries of the time. I think someone is collecting them and storing them there to prevent the truth from being erased.”

“So the books containing the real information, before it was replaced with false information, are being protected in the True Forbidden Library.”

“Yes. I think it’s a book that contains ‘inconvenient truths’, such as events and incidents, or names of people and places that they want to erase from history, that were originally meant to be collected and burned.”

If that’s the case, it’s understandable why the documents and history books I read seemed normal at first glance.

The reason why there were color sample charts in the Forbidden Archives was that, for example, there was something like “Tiny Blue,” and the color names may have included the names of people, organizations, plants, or places.

I don’t think there’s any need to erase the names of the colors either. So I wonder if these color names, including this one, were meant to hide something?

I’m curious, but even if I looked, I don’t think I’d be able to figure out which color it is.

“So that’s why you said that the nursery rhyme I heard was the real song before it changed into the nursery rhyme we know today, Ursch-kun.”

“That’s right. Rather than changing with the times, I think it was probably tampered with. Even after the alteration, it still seems to have a deep connection to the [Sin King] skills, so there’s a chance we can read more important information from the original song before the alteration.”

“I’m sorry Ursch-kun. If only I remembered the song…”

“That’s fine. Besides, Isabella can go to the Forbidden Library whenever she wants, right?”

“Yeah. I got my user card printed on the status screen, so I can go whenever I want.”

Ursch-kun then smiled and said:

“In that case, I think that something like the original nursery rhyme collection before the alteration might be in the True Forbidden Library.”

Feeling a bad feeling, I asked Ursch-kun.

“Umm, so what do you mean?”

“I wonder if we can get the administrator, Navi-san, to look. The original lyrics of ‘King’s Fragment’ can be found.”

Hearing that, I shook my head vigorously.

“No, no, no!! It’s scary, so I don’t want to go, and more than anything, I won’t be able to memorize it, Ursch-kun!! That place seems like a mysterious dimension, so I don’t even know if I’d be able to take notes and take them away, plus, I don’t know how I should react if I ran into the high school girl who isn’t supposed to be there!!”

Then Ursch-kun backed down without a word.

“It’s unusual for Isabella to dislike it so much. I guess I’ll stop then. I guess I’ll just have to find the random spirit statues so I can get to the True Forbidden Library.”

Though I feel guilty for being so selfish and refusing in the face of such an important clue, I nod my head repeatedly.

“I’m sorry, Ursch-kun. In return, I’ll do my best to find the spirit statue.”

“Hmm. I have to be the first one there to find it, so I’ll be the one to look for it, but the problem is whether the [Japanese] that appears and that I have to decipher is fixed or not.”

“Even if it was random, I’m sure Ursch-kun would be able to read it, so I’m not worried.”

Since I was reincarnated, I have been writing my secret notes in [Japanese]. And since I have been sharing them with Ursch-kun for the past nine years, he can read Japanese.

Furthermore, the writing of the Allied Ouka Islands is also very similar to Japanese, so if you apply that, it will be easy for you, Ursch-kun, to decipher it.

“I can read it, but… the pronunciation is difficult.”

It’s true that being able to read and write is different from being able to listen and speak. Although we exchanged secret notes, we didn’t have many conversations in Japanese. He’s learning the language of the Allied Ouka Islands, but although it’s very similar to Japanese, it’s not an exact match.

But there was no need to worry about that either.

“It’s okay, Ursch-kun. My Japanese was a bit shaky, but I still managed to get through.”

“Why is Isabella speaking broken Japanese…?”

“But that’s because I’d been living with the Roserial language for the last 15 years… I wasn’t aware of it at first, but when I was talking to the Japanese high school girl at the Forbidden Library, I noticed that my Japanese had become halting. It seems that my Japanese had become poor because I hadn’t used it enough.”

Even though I am originally Japanese, my Japanese is so bad that the Japanese high school girl would assume I am from overseas.

I think it was partly about appearance, but I think it was a reaction to foreigners who can speak Japanese, rather than foreigners living in Japan.

“I see. If Isabella says it’s okay, then I believe her. Let’s get going right away.”

With that said, Ursch-kun stood up and began to put away the tea set in order to leave the room.

“Huh? Ursch-kun, where are we going?”

“The Quiet Pond at the edge of the academy.”

 

Where?

 

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I really missed this series. I’m glad to be back translating it again.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reading!