After a few minutes, I found the central square. It was around as big as a dome stadium, with fountains, stone benches, and more. A large signboard stood in the center, but no one was looking at it. In fact, there was nary a soul in the square. It could be this area of land was maintained for official events, and it was treated as just another street the rest of the time.
A number of giant maps were displayed on the signboard, and the nation’s history was written there as well. Beside it stood an impressive statue. Maybe it was something akin to a commemorative monument for the country. I drank in the contents of the signboard, hoping to absorb it all. According to it, this whole country was for the Dungeon. To be exact, it was a member of an alliance of five nations that believed in the same religion and followed its teachings. They surrounded the enormous Dungeon, and they were trying to “win” it. Religious tradition said that by overcoming the Dungeon’s trials and reaching the hundredth and final floor, one could grant any wish they desired.
It was a win condition. It seemed almost tailor-made for my predicament. I guess the world was telling me to make it down to the hundredth floor if I wanted to get back.
I continued reading. The country I was in, called “Whoseyards,” was situated north of the Dungeon. An aristocratic society at its core, the people of this nation prized chivalry, considering their ancestors to be knights of renown.
One of the maps pinpointed where exactly in Whoseyards I was. The state was split into one hundred separate domains, each with a number assigned to it. The custom was that the smaller the number, the higher the class of the people living there. I’d found myself in #21. If I were to move toward #22, I’d find the shopping district, and if I returned to #20, I’d find public bodies such as the brokerage office. I referred to that info and headed toward #20, where there was a library.
The library was built where it could stand out as a symbol of the neighborhood, so I didn’t get lost on my way there. I concealed my anxiety and entered the building. The attendant looked me over for a second but didn’t stop me.
Architecturally, it was a spacious Western-style building made of wood. It was very quiet, and didn’t seem any different from the libraries I knew. I picked out some books I thought might come in handy and sat down at one of the available tables. I spread out the books before me, but I had to question the idea of actually reading them. More precisely, a thought that I’d been turning away from until now bubbled up to the surface.
“Why am I able to read these moonrunes, anyway?” I muttered to myself.
In response, people who’d been reading quietly looked up at me.
“Sorry,” I said under my breath, bowing my head in apology.
They lost interest and turned their attention back to their own texts. Honestly, it was weird that my apology actually registered with them. Among the people who’d looked my way were a blond white person and someone with fleecy animal ears. It was a safe bet these people weren’t studying Japanese or anything. How had they understood what I’d said?
Then there was the book I’d cracked open. Upon closer inspection, it was filled with bizarre letters that were neither English nor Japanese. Yet I’d deemed it ideal for learning more about this world and picked it up for that reason. My Japanese was being translated into a strange tongue, and that strange tongue was being translated into Japanese for me. The words I spoke substituted for my convenience.
I could perhaps just chalk it up to magic. But if I’d tried such a thing in my world, I’d have needed some sort of brain surgery first. My brain would be tampered with, my memories and personality added to and subtracted from.
Damn, that’s... That’s way too scary to think about...
The following skill has activated: ???
Stabilizes your mental state in exchange for some of your emotion.
+1.00 to Confusion.
Urgh... Not again...
My muddy maelstrom of fear vanished into thin air, and I regained my composure. While I certainly had the ??? skill to thank for saving me, I also had a bad feeling about it. I understood its trigger condition hinged on my mental state. I had to tamp down on my thought patterns and keep myself from being ruled by strong emotions. I took a deep breath and became calm.
I know. It was, of course, not your normal everyday calm. It was an abnormal calm. In fact, it was possible this calm wasn’t even a good thing. Maybe it was something else entirely. My apprehension remained, but for the time being, I had no choice but to rely on it.
I couldn’t stop my confusion condition from increasing. One look at my menu made that abundantly clear:
【STATS】
NAME: Aikawa Kanami
HP: 51/51
MP: 1/72
CLASS:
LEVEL 1
STR 1.11
VIT 1.03
DEX 1.01
AGI 2.02
INT 4.00
MAG 2.00
APT 7.00
CONDITION: Confusion 3.00
But belying my supposed “confusion,” my head was perfectly clear. Perhaps the ??? skill actively negated it. But the fact that my confusion condition was not only still there but had gotten up to 3.00 scared me. That one string of text stirred my anxiety.
It was very worrying, but thinking about it any more than I already had would get me nowhere. All I could do now was hit the books and move forward. Learning more about this world, this country, this culture, and the Dungeon would get me closer to a solution. And so, for as long as I could, I immersed myself in the realm of print.