I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 379

"I write it down here, right? What should I put for the date?"

[An official era calendar is meaningless. Instead, tracking how many days have passed will suffice.]

"Since it’s around May outside right now..."

Before borrowing the book, I filled out the checkout log according to standard procedures.

Surprisingly, filling out the checkout log wasn’t digital, but analog—meaning I had to write it down on paper.

The reason, naturally, was that every single electronic device in the library was dead.

Alex was merely a living wiki; he didn’t possess the ability to actually repair electronics.

’The Analects I gave to Heavenly Demon might turn out to be useless... but it’s packed with good sayings.’

Just as I had given the Bible to the Hero, Asella, I had borrowed the Analects for Heavenly Demon.

The Analects is a compilation of sayings by Confucius, famous as one of the Four Great Sages, though Confucius himself did not write it directly.

Still, as a record of the words of Confucius, the founder of Confucianism, it contained plenty of deeply inspiring quotes.

’It’s certain that Confucian thought has already rooted itself in the Central Plains.’

Unlike on Earth, it was impossible to know who had spread that philosophy in this world.

However, there was a clue that allowed for an educated guess: Aris’s two disciples.

Aris had taught her two disciples everything starting from how to manipulate mana to various philosophies, after which the two disciples departed for the West and the East.

If those disciples had done nothing, this world right now would have turned into a pretty grim environment overrun by strange, violent, chaotic, and demonic forces.

Confucius established Confucianism during the Spring and Autumn period—a time when strange and violent phenomena literally ran rampant in the world.

In a world where everyone took the abnormal for granted, he alone championed benevolence and righteousness. He wasn’t called one of the Four Great Sages for nothing.

’Well, he probably crushed anyone who refused to listen with pure brute force, though.’

The Four Great Sages shared one common trait: every single one of them possessed exceptional martial prowess.

The moment you try to preach "philosophy" in a barbaric era, your skull is liable to get smashed open. Thus, martial force in some form or another was an absolute necessity.

People used to joke about Jesus being the "Nazareth Monkey Wrench," a phrase coined because one had to be pretty physically robust to carry out the deeds described in the Bible.

"Ah, by the way. Ludwig-ssi, I have something to ask you."

"Speak."

"Did Aris-nim dislike vipers?"

"That is an insult."

[She used to refer to the unholy as ’viperous bastards.’]

I had only asked just in case, but was Aris a Christian too?

Thinking about it brought a chuckle to my lips. Since Aris was also from Earth, she couldn’t help but be influenced by it.

"If we have... a bit of time left, let’s rest here before going. We shouldn’t eat food here, right?"

[A library is not a cafeteria.]

"Then I guess we can’t..."

[However, if you offer something delicious, it will be considered.]

"...You said this was a library, didn’t you? Is that really okay?"

[The world has ended. Except for borrowing, rules to be followed are meaningless.]

Turns out he was a surprisingly flexible living wiki. Thanks to that, we were able to have lunch right here.

Though lunch was nothing more than the food we brought along in advance, it was still plenty to eat.

’In practice, I use an entire Subspace Backpack exclusively for food.’

Since there were so many in our party, we had no choice but to dedicate an entire Subspace Backpack to food.

Well, since Lackey carried it instead of me, it wasn’t particularly inconvenient.

Lackey had also grown accustomed to playing the role of porter by now, so he didn’t raise any complaints.

"Can I stay here a bit longer? I’m curious to see what other books there are."

[Unconcerned. Silence is not required.]

"Isn’t quietness a cardinal rule in a library?"

[In a ruined world, there is no need to be that strict.]

He really had flexibility in a bizarrely specific direction.

Still, it was great being able to browse around. I should check out which books to borrow later.

Starting from various cooking recipes to survival-related books. On top of those, I also needed an animal encyclopedia.

’It’d be great if there were books related to the Forest of the Four Seasons.’

Unfortunately, the Forest of the Four Seasons was a forest created after the migration.

Even when I asked the living wiki, Alex, the answer that came back was that he didn’t know.

It was the same for the World Tree. Only stories related to Norse mythology popped up, and nothing else beyond that.

’Looks like only records up until right before the final war remain.’

It was better to think of it that way. I thanked Alex and sat down at a desk.

Sitting across from me was Lackey, who was intently staring at a book that wasn’t the one we borrowed.

Amusingly, the cover of the book was in Hangul. Could it be that he found Hangul more comfortable than the Central Plains tongue?

’The title is... My Strug...?’

Holy fuck, wait a minute.

Why the hell are you reading that?

Moving beyond flustered into pure utter bewilderment, I shot up from my seat.

At the commotion, Lackey looked up at me with a puzzled expression. His posture asked what was wrong.

"Uh... Lackey-ya? Do you know who wrote that book?"New chapters come out on no⁠velping.com first.

"Adolf Hitler."

"Yeah. Right, that guy. Do you know who he was? Wait, before that, Alex."

[Present.]

When I called Alex, the lump of flesh wearing a baseball cap ambled over to me.

Pointing at the book Lackey was reading, I spoke in a trembling voice.

"W-Why is that here? Is something like that even allowed to exist?"

[Extremely high value for research purposes.]

"Even so..."

True. If one wanted to analyze that mustache guy as an individual, there was no better material than that book.

But the actual contents inside were not beneficial in the slightest.

"Uh... Lackey-ya? How about reading something else instead?"

"Master. I don’t want to read this book either. That is why I am curious."

"You don’t want to read it, but you’re curious?"

"Do you not know that I was cast out of my pack simply because my fur is white and my eyesight is poor?"

"Ah."

Come to think of it, Lackey was also an exile.

The ideology of that mustache guy—filled with racism, and discriminatory rhetoric at that—was bound to offend him.

He seemed simply curious as to what kind of process had driven someone to adopt such an ideology.

"Finished reading."

"You finished it already? How was it?"

"It would suit this forest quite well. My kin would love it."

"..."

Mr. Mustache, wherever you are in the afterlife: you just got trashed by a gorilla.

Chuckling, I took the book. I wondered what reaction a person of this world would have if they read it.

’Absolutely not.’

Whatever else might spread, I had zero intention of letting an ideology like that loose. The moment it spread, the world could turn into a literal hellscape.

Am I crazy enough to turn the world into hell? Aris would jump out of her seat in shock.

’In that sense, isn’t Alfheim a little... concerning?’

Though quiet for now, it was a place where no one knew what kind of chaos they might unleash next.

I handed the book back to Alex. The moment Alex received it, he shoved it into his mouth.

Apparently, putting it into that mouth sent it back to wherever it originally belonged.

"Alright. Now that our rest is wrapping up, let’s head back."

I addressed the party. We couldn’t just stay holed up in a library all day long.

We had invested time here because the library itself was an unexpected find, but our exploration objective remained unchanged.

Moving past the library to thoroughly investigate this city.

[Leaving already. Not recommended.]

"Why?"

[Bored.]

Alex seemed to grow gloomy at the thought of us leaving.

Watching the blob of flesh wearing a baseball cap sag dejectedly made it certain.

Even though he possessed nothing but a mouth, his emotional expression was so clear he felt like a slime.

"I’ll visit from time to time. I have to come back to return the books anyway."

[Promise it.]

"I promise. So don’t be so gloomy."

Perhaps because he was an intelligent living creature despite being close to an AI,

I could tell his emotions were surprisingly distinct.

"You can’t compress the library, right? If you could, I’d love to take you to my Shelter."

[Impossible. Compression-related devices damaged. Unrepairable.]

"That’s a shame. Is there anything around here that threatens you? If so, I’ll clear it out for you."

I intended to maintain regular interactions with Alex. The knowledge this guy harbored was immensely useful.

Besides, I had to borrow books that the regular gallery members requested.

Of course, if it was tied to dangerous ideologies, I would firmly refuse.

[A few exist. Annoying creatures, like gnats.]

"Are they Mimics?"

[Masterless Mimics went berserk. Combined with mana and became stronger. Causing noise pollution.]

"I’ll hunt them down for you."

It would be great to explore while helping Alex out at the same time.

Alex expressed his thanks and opened the library doors wide.

Chrareureuk—

How terribly kind of him to roll out his tongue like a red carpet.

I stared uncomfortably at the tongue laid out like a carpet before speaking up.

"...You don’t need to lay out your tongue."

[Learned that this is politeness.]

Whoever the head librarian was, they certainly taught him well.

I wasn’t being sarcastic; I genuinely meant it. The only issue was that it was a tongue.This chapter was copied from nove‌lping.com without permission.

Before, I might have hesitated, but this time, not wanting to reject his goodwill, I stepped onto his tongue.

A mix of squishiness and stickiness provoked a wave of revulsion, but I endured it to the end.

"Ggyueek..."

"Wonmo-ya. Come here, let me carry you. Tyranno, you can fly, right?"

"Bbiik!"

However, I carried Wonmo, who would have had to walk directly on it.

Tyranno, seemingly envious of Wonmo, clung to me despite being able to fly.

In the end, Largo was the only one stepping on it barefoot, but thanks to his naturally laid-back personality, he didn’t seem bothered at all.

Once we stepped back onto the street, the stretched-out tongue retracted. The library doors quietly closed behind us.

’There really is all sorts of weird stuff here.’

The most surprising thing I learned in the library was that mana was discovered in the year 2035.

I thought far more time had passed, but to think it was only around then.

’I should look for more places like libraries.’

Before that, heading toward the World Tree that managed this forest came first.

If we were lucky, maybe we’d stumble across other ruins along the way.

I took my eyes off the library and set off, aiming to find the Mimic Alex mentioned.

’A masterless Mimic went berserk, huh... Other Mimics only got angry when disturbed, so that one must be different.’

Then again, this region was suspected of having been hit by a nuclear bomb.

While other Mimics were relatively fine, there were bound to be specimens that absorbed heaps of radiation and mutated bizarrely.

In a way, Alex might be one of them too. Even considering he merged with a library, his intelligence was unnaturally high.

’Come to think of it, Vanir mentioned it before. That there are regions overflowing with radiation.’

Normally, radiation dissipates naturally over time.

Of course, genetic mutations in living organisms due to the aftermath were inevitable.

’Since the signs of a nuclear war are quite strong... I need to be careful.’

You never know. The very ground I was stepping on might actually be a radioactive mess.

If I sensed any ominous signs, I planned to turn right around and run without looking back.

"Wonmo-ya."

"Ggyuu?"

"I’m glad you’re a native creature of this world."

Wonmo tilted his head at my words. At his unbearably cute reaction, I nuzzled my face against his.

An Owlbear, combining the face of an owl and the torso of a bear. From Earth’s perspective, it was a radiation-soaked mutant.

But in this world, native creatures, Earth creatures, and mutated creatures coexisted.

In the case of an Owlbear, it existed on the outside as well, making it a native creature.

’An Earth creature is sitting right here.’

The sad animal with a long neck: a giraffe (Kirin).

When Ludwig first saw Largo, he was shocked enough to ask what kind of absurd animal this was.

What kind of animals would show up later? I became intensely curious.

Bureung! Bureureung!

It was right while I was walking with those thoughts in mind. We arrived at a vast, open clearing.

The moment we hit the clearing, a strange sound buzzed in my ears—an exhaust roar I had heard often somewhere before.

Buaaaang!!!

Before long, that exhaust rumble shifted into a crisp engine roar. I immediately readied my weapons.

Soon, something whipped past us at high speed. Not as fast as Bbareumbo, but still insanely fast.

It acted as if it were threatening us.

"That’s..."

As the swirling dust cloud cleared, we could see the true identity of the object that had zipped past us.

A motorcycle. And a massive one at that.

Whether it had been customized or not, its tires were thick, and its overall size was huge.

"Kueee..."

The front of the motorcycle split open horizontally, and a long tongue drooped out.

Sharp teeth sprouting inside were an added bonus. But that wasn’t all.

[Bbaba-bara-ba! Bbaba-bba-bam!]

A sound that was hard to tell whether it was simply a horn honk or an intimidation tactic.

I instantly realized who the owner of that Mimic was.

’A true nuisance remains a nuisance even in death.’

I realized that Mimics truly take after their masters.

"Cool."

"Splendid."

[What a magnificent steed.]

"...?"

What are these guys even talking about?