It was the day after Rei arrived in the city of Gilm. After eating and finishing his preparations for the day, Rei headed to the stables.

「Gururu~!」

Seeing Rei enter the stables, Set gave a joyful cry.

「Did you sleep well last night?」
「Guru~」

Full of energy, Set seemed to say as he stretched. A smile floated onto Rei’s face as he scratched the Griffon’s head.

「I see. So then, what do you want to do today? There seems to be a library in the city, and I want to look around there……do you want to stay here or come with me? If you do come, you’ll probably have to wait outside like you did at the Adventurers Guild yesterday, as they won’t let a Griffon inside.」

In response to Rei’s words, Set came over and rubbed his head against him. He appealed with his whole body to be brought along.

「I see.」

Smiling at Set’s eager behaviour, Rei led him out of the stables.

Since Dram had told Rei during breakfast that it was fine to take Set out of the stables, he had no worries about bringing Set onto the main street.

The moment Set appeared on the street, the people walking nearby took a few steps back in astonishment, just like yesterday. However, since the rumours about Rei and Set had already circulated to some extent, fewer people screamed and ran away than Rei had expected. Of course, there were still some people who fled in terror before even noticing the necklace on Set that proved he was a tamed or summoned monster.

By the way, Dram had mentioned during breakfast that the collar was officially called a 『Necklace of Subservient Monster』.

「Guru~」

Seeing the nervous reactions of the crowd, Set gave a soft cry. Rei patted him lightly, and with Set following close behind, he walked in the direction of the library Lana had told him about during breakfast.

Walking along the main street, they passed by the Adventurers Guild. Spotting an appetising kebab stall, Rei decided to buy some food to share with Set. ……However, while Rei himself wasn’t a heavy eater, he ended up buying 30 kebabs for several silver coins just to feed Set.

Because Rei bought such a massive quantity, the stall owner immediately recognised him as a highly lucrative customer. Perhaps reassured by the 『Necklace of Subservient Monster』, many other vendors began calling out to him as well. Even with a terrifying monster accompanying him, the merchants’ merchant spirits won out.

As they walked down the street eating their kebabs, the building Lana had described finally came into view. It was the library. Because Gilm was a frontier city, he had been warned that its collection of books wasn’t particularly vast. However, it was the only place he could find the basic knowledge he so desperately needed.

「Set, wait here for me.」
「Guru~」

Just like at the Adventurers Guild yesterday, he parted with Set at the designated waiting area for carriages and tamed beasts before stepping inside the library.

「Welcome. Have you come to use the library today?」

As he entered the building, a voice immediately called out from the reception desk. Rei approached while nodding.

「Ah. Could you explain how this place works?」

The receptionist, a woman in her mid-twenties, explained the rules in a flat, business-like tone.

「The entry fee for the library is 5 silver coins per day. However, this includes a security deposit for the books. If the books you read are returned without any damage or stains, 3 silver coins will be refunded to you upon leaving. Please be warned that if a book is severely damaged or dirtied, you may be required to pay an additional fine on top of losing your deposit. If you attempt to flee without paying, we will issue a request to the Adventurers Guild to collect the debt as a bounty. If you need to copy anything down, we sell sets of ten sheets of paper and a pen for 3 copper coins.」

Rei frowned slightly when he heard that 5 silver coins were required upfront, but he paid the fee without complaint.

Back on Earth, Rei had been able to use public libraries completely free of charge, but in this world, books themselves were incredibly expensive luxury items. It wasn’t uncommon for rare grimoires to sell for platinum or even light gold coins.

「Yes, the payment is confirmed. Please ensure you get the head librarian’s signature on this document before you leave. As long as you don’t damage any books, there won’t be any issues. You can claim your 3 silver coin refund by presenting this signed document. Please take your time.」

Handing him a stamped document in exchange for the coins, the receptionist bowed politely. Holding the pass, Rei walked into the main archive, smiling wryly at the stark differences between this place and the libraries he knew.

「……I see.」

The words leaked from Rei’s mouth as he took in the sight.

By Rei’s estimation, the room was about the size of a few school libraries combined. Large, 2m tall bookshelves were lined up at regular intervals. Various books of all shapes and sizes were displayed on the shelves, and several desks with chairs accommodating up to four people each were arranged near the librarian’s desk.

Taking one look around, Rei immediately gave up on the idea of blindly searching for the right books himself and headed straight for the counter. He called out to the librarian, a middle-aged man in his forties.

「Excuse me, do you have a moment?」
「Yes, how can I help you?」
「I’m looking for historical information regarding a man named Zephyr. Do you have any books related to him?」
「Zephyr, you say? Give me a moment. I’ve certainly read that name somewhere before……」

After a short pause, the man smiled as the memory came back to him.

「Ah, I believe that’s the name of a Majin I’ve read about before.」
「……A Majin? What’s with that nasty title?」

Rei asked instinctively upon hearing the unexpected word. The librarian gave him a strange look.

「Hm, are you looking for a different person? That’s the only famous historical figure I know of with the name Zephyr.」
「……Do you have any books written about this Majin?」
「Since his story is essentially treated as a myth or a fairy tale, you should find it on the far right shelf, straight at the end of this aisle.」
「I see. Thank you very much.」

After thanking the librarian, he walked over to the specified bookshelf, pulled out several related volumes, and carried them to a nearby desk.

「Now then, let’s see what we have here.」

He had fully expected the historical information to be heavily skewed over time. However, since his soul had fused with Zephyr’s, he already knew the actual truth himself. Keeping that in mind, he opened the first book and began to read.

Zephyr. A legendary figure said to have existed thousands of years ago who led a powerful group of magicians. While leading a group of mages wasn’t particularly special on its own, the magicians he commanded were all considered the most eminent figures in the world at the time. Furthermore, it was noted that Zephyr himself was the master who had taught them all.

It was widely believed that the combined combat power of this group was enough to instantly annihilate an entire nation. Because of this overwhelming threat, Zephyr was treated as an extremely dangerous entity by many countries of that era. According to the texts, one foolish country attempted to forcibly conscript his group into their military, and that country was subsequently erased from the world map in a single day. Mighty magicians wielding terrifying magic. That was how Zephyr and his followers came to be known as ‘Majins’.

「……」

Rei unintentionally fell silent and rubbed his temples. Although he had suspected a significant time gap between Zephyr’s memories and reality, he never imagined it would be thousands of years. Zephyr had explicitly told him that only several hundred years had passed. In reality, it had been millennia. Rei felt a headache coming on, as the ancient magician’s estimate was off by a factor of ten.

That said, since he was already stuck in this world, there was nothing he could do about it now. Convincing himself to just focus on surviving in the present, he returned the history books to the shelf without reading any further into Zephyr’s mythological exploits.

To calm his mind, he picked out some general books about the current state of the world and a few practical guides that would be useful for an adventurer.

After reading through them, he gained a solid understanding. There were 24 hours in a day and 30 days in a month. A year consisted of 12 months, making it almost identical to Earth’s calendar system. The days of the week were named Ji, Mizu, Hi, Kaze, Hikari, Yami, and Mu.

However, because mechanical and magical clocks were extremely expensive magic items, their ownership was strictly limited to wealthy merchants and high-ranking nobles. So how did the common folk keep track of time? A large bell would sound in the city every three hours: 6 AM, 9 AM, 12 Noon, 3 PM, 6 PM, and 9 PM. Because the bell rang six times a day, most people could roughly estimate the current time.

Moving on, he skimmed through a guidebook detailing the basic necessities for an adventurer. But the book that attracted Rei’s interest the most was a volume titled 『Beginner’s Guide to Dismantling Monsters』.

Even though he had managed to skin the Water Bear relatively well, the pelt had still sold for a lower price because his amateur processing had damaged it. Since he was going to be living as an adventurer from now on, proper monster dismantling techniques were absolutely indispensable. However, judging that it would take far too much time to manually copy the entire book by hand, Rei returned to the counter to speak to the librarian.

「Excuse me, do you have a minute?」
「Yes, how can I help you?」
「Is it possible to purchase this book?」

Rei asked, holding up the 『Beginner’s Guide to Dismantling Monsters』. However, the librarian smiled apologetically and shook his head.

「I’m very sorry, but library books cannot be bought or sold. If we allowed that, we wouldn’t have a library left. ……Ah, however.」

Looking closely at the book Rei was holding, he suddenly seemed to remember something.

「However?」
「I believe I saw an identical copy of that exact book at a bookstore in the city. I saw it about two weeks ago, so I don’t know if it’s still in stock, as they only had one copy left.」
「No, that’s incredibly helpful. Thank you. Could you give me the directions to this bookstore?」
「Certainly.」

After getting the directions from the helpful librarian, Rei hesitated on what to do next.

Since he had effectively paid 2 silver coins just to enter, he wanted to stay and read more books to get his money’s worth. On the other hand, he really wanted to secure the 『Beginner’s Guide to Dismantling Monsters』 from the bookstore before someone else bought it. After deliberating for a moment, Rei concluded that the library books weren’t going anywhere, so he could always come back later. After getting the librarian’s signature on his pass, he handed it back to the receptionist, collected his 3 silver coin deposit, and left the library.

Reuniting with Set, who was patiently waiting outside, he immediately headed for the bookstore and managed to purchase the guidebook for the considerable sum of 1 gold coin. After buying a few sets of fresh clothes and some other daily necessities, the two of them returned to the Dusk Wheat Pavilion.

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