041-060 · 055-ch49
Chapter 49: Goodbye
I moved to the library and immediately examined the books lined up on the shelves.
It seems this world hadn't developed bookbinding and printing technology as much as Earth—all the books were leather-bound and looked extremely high-end.
Looking at the patterns resembling characters engraved on their spines, I confirmed they were the same writing I had seen before.
"Seriously, if we can understand each other when talking, you'd think they'd let us read their books too."
>>Ah, now that you mention it, that's true
>>Didn't really think about it normally
>>Japanese!? I thought so, but I guess I wasn't wrong
>>You can't read the writing?
>>Books are boring anyway, I'd rather see Selene-chan!
"I can't read the writing. But conversation works. It's a mystery, huh."
By the way, since I'd attached the streaming drone to myself, the viewers couldn't see what Selene was doing right now.
I did have a spare drone, but the initial setup was a bit complicated, and I figured Selene might want some time to talk to herself, so I'd deliberately left it behind.
Me leaving her side was partly out of that consideration.
It definitely wasn't because I was thinking "three thousand people is way too many."
Definitely not.
After looking through the wall-mounted bookshelves, I determined they were organized to some degree.
Well, that's only natural for a library, but I also found several multi-volume sets that seemed to be series or connected works.
For now, I planned to keep those together when I threw them into my Magic Inventory.
That said, this was a castle library after all.
Considering there were probably tens of thousands of books, I wondered how long it would take to store them all away.
"I was thinking of having Selene help me sort them properly, but I guess I'll pass on that."
>>Oh right, Selene can read books, can't she
>>Deciphering's gonna speed up!!
>>But that reduces the fun of deciphering it ourselves
>>Me, a language otaku, is wailing in grief
>>There are language otaku...?
>>Otaku exist for everything, seriously
"Don't worry, the information will be my exclusive possession for a while."
>>No way, that's bananas!
>>How tragic
>>Honestly, it's a miracle he's shared even this much info with us
>>The original! Just show us the original, please!
Well, I wouldn't say there's no need to monopolize it.
I don't really intend to spread information about this world too indiscriminately—though dungeon information is another matter.
I've actually held a somewhat controversial view about this information society: democracy and it are horribly incompatible.
That's because I think society is heading toward ochlocracy (mob rule) due to citizens who mistakenly believe they've obtained information that someone else arbitrarily disseminated.
Setting aside complicated philosophical discussions, to put it simply: if information like "The Earth will be destroyed in one year, and to prevent it we must do X" were discovered, should it be shared with all citizens?
I don't think it should.
That's because information crucial to operating society should only be known by high-ranking government officials who have an obligation to handle it, or the subordinates and experts actually tasked with the response.
Citizens should simply live their daily lives and pursue their dreams and happiness.
Some might say "How dare you keep such important information from the citizens!" or "We have a right to know."
But I think it's worse when citizens find out, make a fuss, cause chaos, and end up hindering those who can actually handle the situation.
Unless it's a situation requiring the full mobilization of the nation's strength, if the government officials and the experts they selected can't do anything about it, then citizens knowing wouldn't change anything anyway—it's a lost cause from the start, so they might as well resign themselves to it.
I consider the information beyond this dungeon to be somewhat of that nature—information that should be controlled—so I haven't shared everything I know so far.
For example, the fact that there's a large carved-out basement under my base, kept cool and dark, where mountains of wrapped books are stored.
Or that according to those I've actually spoken with in this world, the pure human race has already disappeared, leaving only a handful of powerful individuals.
That kind of information shouldn't be shared lightly.
That's what I believe.
"Well, I could show you me flipping through an original book, though."
That said, since I want people to put in the effort if they're going to decipher it, I'll at least do that much for them.
Even if I say I'll control information, I don't intend to stop explorers from coming here themselves, nor do I plan to interfere with wise people trying to decipher it on their own.
I hold such views, so I don't plan to tell everything about the books' contents from my own mouth.
But there are probably people who don't feel that way, and I think that's fine too.
That's my stance.
>>Yes...!
>>How do you actually decipher writing though
>>Can you decipher completely unknown languages?
>>Honestly speaking, it's tough. There are still plenty of undeciphered scripts in modern times
"I do know about that one. The Voynich Manuscript or whatever. That fantasy-looking one. Why can't things like that be deciphered? Any experts here?"
While picking up and skimming through some books, I joined the conversation.
Though "skimming" was really just looking for books with illustrations, so I wasn't using my brain that much.
>>Experts—there was a language otaku earlier
>>The Voynich Manuscript, right. To put it simply, if you were suddenly presented with English text without knowing any English reading or grammar, do you think you could suddenly read it?
>>Even if I studied I couldn't read it
>>I see? So language deciphering is difficult in the first place?
>>Language deciphering is somewhat brute-force, so with enough time to try every possible pattern, there's no language that ultimately can't be deciphered. But that takes way more than 10 years, and with few documents you can't verify if the pattern is correct.
That's why there are quite a few undeciphered languages. Either they're isolated from other language groups, or there are too few remaining documents to test patterns.
>>Or if Japanese people went extinct and only Japanese remained, foreigners would be hella confused
"Pffft, yeah, for sure, fuhaha."
An unexpected comment made me burst out laughing.
If I imagined having English speakers decipher Japanese without knowing anything about it, I'd think "don't ask for the impossible."
Deciphering a language with completely different grammar and writing just from character arrangements would be nearly impossible.
"To tell you the truth, I had some books. I was thinking of taking them to some linguist when I next went to the surface. Well, with Selene around that's not necessary anymore. I'll stream some footage of them instead."
>>Hey wait, the language community's gonna riot
>>What even is that community
>>John, be careful what you say. Your influence is huge
>>It's already trending on social media. Looking forward to it
>>If it gets deciphered, the theory-crafters will have new topics too. They're excited about that
"Yeah, look forward to it. If someone can seriously decipher it, I'd genuinely think that's amazing."
After that, I kept searching through books until night fell and Selene arrived.
Several books contained magic circles I didn't know, and some had magic circles I could use now.
Some even had books explaining how to make magic circles, and I decided I'd absolutely have Selene read and teach me those.
Over several days, Selene said her goodbyes to her people, and I collected the castle's books, treasures, and magical items.
Finally, standing before the castle, I looked up at it while talking with Selene.
"You're sure you're okay with this?"
"Yes. If possible, I would have liked to take everything—the castle and the entire city with me."
"That's impossible, as expected."
She started saying something that wasn't even a joke, so I responded with a straight face, and she giggled as if she had been expecting that reaction.
"It was a jest. I have already said my farewells. Now, let us go."
Selene turned her back on the castle and began walking, so after one last glance at the castle, I followed after her.
"Well, if you want to come back, you can just come again. It shouldn't take more than fifteen days on foot. Can't do it frequently, but you can visit sometimes."
"Yes, that is true."
Walking through the city streets and reaching the outskirts.
Passing through where we had camped, choosing paths that even Selene—whose physical abilities were inferior to mine despite having changed into pants—could traverse, we climbed.
As we walked, I listened to her reminisce.
"That was when Gran—"
"Haha, that's amusing."
"Leon too—"
The content was trivial—daily matters.
The people playing pranks, or doing something serious.
It was told in a way that made me understand such everyday life was her treasure.
Even as she spoke, she never looked back.
Because if she looked back, she would want to return.
But no matter how much she said she had said her goodbyes, I thought it was too lonely.
Well, I was the one who pushed her to say the goodbyes herself, but that was to help her come to terms with things—not to tell her to throw away her past.
So, when we had climbed to about the mountainside, I called out to her.
"Isn't that enough?"
Selene, understanding the meaning of those words, looked at me while catching her breath slightly on the mountain path.
"Yes... I suppose so."
Then she moved to a position where the view was a bit clearer, and the three of us—me, her, and Robo—tried to look at the city one last time.
And we all exclaimed "Ah" in unison.
Her people, who should have been gone.
They had become transparent.
They had become ghost-like, phantom-like semi-transparent beings, seeing her off from the city.
Everyone, every single one, was smiling and seeing her off in their own way.
The children waving their hands broadly, the men crossing their arms, the women waving small—the many semi-transparent figures were seeing us off from the city.
Though there was distance, somehow I could miraculously see even the details.
That was probably an expression of gratitude from the people who had spent hundreds of years devoted to her.
And at the same time, it was likely a farewell gift for her journey.
"I will be going."
The moment she said that, everything disappeared like a dream, and what remained was simply quiet.
Only the empty city remained.
"Let us go, John-san."
"...Yeah, let's."
Prompted by her, I walked ahead while thinking.
The written notes and diaries I had occasionally found in that castle.
Perhaps those were thoughts from her people who had wanted to be found by her.
In the world beyond the dungeon, such mysteries are commonplace.
Ghosts, remnants of lingering thoughts—they can take form.