The participants stood near the large library door.
The door was enormous. As Aragi had said — about five meters in height. Five meters. Almost like three Yahwehs stacked on top of each other. Almost like the participants' ambitions, if they could be measured in meters. Almost like... alright, just a big door.
— Excellent work, — said Kamiki. — But where did you find the key? We searched all the rooms but couldn't find it.
— Including Gerudo's own room, —confirmed Aragi. — We thoroughly checked every corner together. Didn't miss a single suspicious crack.
— The key wasn't hidden in the mansion at all, — Cheryl said calmly. — It was outside the living quarters all this time.
— Cheryl and I thought it might be hidden in the storage room. It's located not far from the garden. That's where we usually store meat and drinks. And, as it turned out, something else too.
— There's been a storage room here all this time? — Yahweh was surprised. — Why do we learn about such things last?
Why do we learn about everything last?About corpses, about writings, about spells, about storage rooms, for god's sake. Perhaps there's a rule in this mansion. Panic first, facts later.
— Sorry, — said Cheryl, not sounding very sorry. — Until now, there was no need for you to know about the storage room.
— We didn't think he would keep the key in such a place ourselves.
The storage room. The key to the library, stored next to meat and wine. Probably, Gerudo considered knowledge part of the meal. Or he had a rather peculiar gastronomic taste.
— I suggest we don't delay and open this behemoth quickly. You can open it, since you found the key.
Behemoth. A word more suited for video game bosses than for doors. Although, in this case...
Morgana stood nervously by the door, looking at the key. She looked at it as if it was about to bite her. As if this key was cursed. Or she was being overly responsible.
— Morgana, what's the matter? — asked Cheryl. — They're waiting for us to open the door.
— I'd be glad to, but…
A pause.
And not just any pause, but an important pause, the kind that makes the air in the room compress.
It seemed Cheryl suddenly remembered something. Something important. Something Gerudo had once told them. Something they should, of course, have remembered earlier. But drama requires timing.
— We apologize for your long wait, — he began. — But we cannot open the door.
Pause.
Everyone looked at him as if he had just confessed that the door was alive.
— What's the problem? It's just a normal door.
Normal? Only, as it turned out, with a magical core.
«Now I finally understood the feeling I had then… this door, besides its size, was shrouded in magic.»
— The key is not enough to open the door, — Cheryl continued. — The first master of the mansion used magic for the safety of his grimoires.
— Thereby sealing the entrance to the library between the 10th and 11th layers of dimensions.
What? Between what and what?
An ordinary person would have gone to lie down after a phrase like that. And us? We just frowned slightly.
— That was unexpected, — said Hov. — Who would have thought some old man was capable of such a thing.
«If we had access to our powers now, it wouldn't be difficult. Just remember one of Yahweh's achievements. In his time, he killed many transcendent beings.»
Unpleasant memories. Bloody.
— Then how did Gerudo open this door?
— Surprisingly, — Morgana answered. — But, being an ordinary human, Gerudo-sama could open it with ease.
— If a person without magic could do it, then what's the problem for us to open it?
— Give me that damn key and step aside, — said Yahweh. — I'll try to open it.
«Yahweh bet that since Gerudo, being an ordinary human, opened the door, he could do it too, without temporary access to magic.»
Sometimes things are simple. So simple it's even a bit frightening, he inserted the key, turned it. The door made a sound. Not quite a creak. More like… an inhalation of something alive.
With some effort, he opened it.
— You truly are an amazing person, Yahweh.
Entering the room, they saw before them… huge shelves filled with books. The room was so vast it seemed endless. If someone said a madman built it, it would be easy to believe.
— This place seems gloomier with every passing minute.
— And how do we find the right book to translate the hieroglyphs?
— Be cautious, — said Cheryl with the air of an expert. — Some grimoires are so powerful they can grant you limitless power.
— By the way, — Yahweh's voice chimed in. — I was thinking about this recently. You said they possess mighty power… but isn't that better? We can use them to last through all these days and survive.
— That might have been anticipated by the mistress. Perhaps such grimoires are sealed now. Or possess no properties at all. Or possess only those that will kill you.
— Should have expected that move. Then let's search for the book we need quickly.
— We will help you. It will be quite difficult to find the right book among several thousand.
«This could take us the whole day… I doubt we can miraculously get the right one in a short time among so many books.»
And yet, after perhaps an hour, or maybe an eternity, the lines were found:
避けられない定めを拒み,争うことは,ただ自らを滅ぼすだけだ.
過去への罪悪感と後悔に囚われれば,その瞬間に苦しみの中で死ぬだろう.
「親しい人への愛は,必ずあなたの心を乱し,苦悩の深淵にあなたを落としてしまうでしょう.」
敵に対して悔いの念を抱くな.
Four lines.
Four meanings.
Four knives hidden in a silk wallet.
But what do they mean? And who wrote them?